The Children Who Lived
by ESawyer1
Summary: Harry and Lydia Potter are the only known survivors of the Killing Curse at just a year old. Brought up in the Muggle and thrust into a world of magic, they are kept together through the strength of love and sheer stubbornness. Nothing in their life is promised, except one thing; whatever happens, it won't be easy. Also uploaded on A03 Drarry.
1. Prologue

**"They'll be famous - legends - I wouldn't be surprised if**

 **today was known as Potter Day in the future -**

 **there will be books written about them -**

 **every child in our world will know their name!"**

 **—-**

 **Year 1**

Lydia Potter shivered as she clung onto her brothers hand and walked into the Great Hall. She was so nervous she couldn't She even stop to admire how the candles seemingly floated in midair or the fact that the ceiling of the Hall was open to heavens. She barely took any notice of the four long house tables, the way that everyone seemed to be staring at her and Harry and the fact that there was a hat singing to them. Her bright green eyes skirted around the room and she nervously tried to keep her hat from falling off her mane of unruly black hair. Whoever had designed these hats hadn't taken uncontrollable hair into consideration.

Someone sat at the table closest to them nudged her hard in the side. She turned her head to look at him.

"Are you the Potters?"

He pointed to the scar on her head and she quickly nodded and looked away. Aunt Petunia had brought her up to be ashamed of the scar on her head because it wasn't 'ladylike' - as if she had any control of whether or not she wanted it to be there or not. If it were up to Lydia, she would get rid of as soon as humanly possible. She could not remember a time when she had looked in the mirror and not flinched at the sight of it. She and Harry discussed their identical scars a lot and had both come to the conclusion that they probably wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't so big. It started at the very top of their foreheads, zigzagged down their noses in a lightning bolt shape and stopped just at their cheekbones. The scars were impossible to cover up and always earned both her and Harry funny looks off people.

Lydia turned her attention to Professor McGonagall and watched the sorting take place; Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones both became Hufflepuffs whilst Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnigan, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom because Gryffindors. Draco Malfoy, (who Lydia already disliked) Daphne Greengrass, Vincent Crabbe and Greggory Goyle all became Slytherins. Once Pansy Parkinson joined them at the Slytherin table too, Harry's name was called.

A silence fell over the Hall and all eyes were on him as he slowly made his way to the three-legged stool. Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on is head and there were a few moments of silence until-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table exploded in applause. Percy the Prefect leapt up at once and because to shake is hand whilst Fred and George Weasley were shouting, "WE GOT POTTER! WE GOT POTTER!" over and over again. It took a few moments for the Gryffindor table to become quiet again and Lydia began to panic. What if she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor? She didn't really like the thought of being away from Harry for they never had been apart. She supposed that being in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad...

"Potter, Lydia!" McGonagall called.

Feeling as the her robes were too heavy and weighing her down, Lydia pushed through the crows and slowly lowered herself onto the stool. McGonagall dropped the Sorting Hat on her head and it fell over her eyes. The fact that she could no longer see the Great Hall and everyone staring up at her put her a little more at ease.

"Ah..." a small voice said in her ear, "Now, this is interesting...your brother begged to not be put in Slytherin but I don't heard that here...no..." It fell silent for a moment, "You've a good brain...loyal...brave...but there's just something about you...there something _more_ to you-"

Lydia screwed her eyes shut and gripped the edge of the stool. She had the nastiest feeling that she knew what was coming before the Sorting Hat said anything.

"-SLYTERIN!"

There was not shouts of applause. No one stood up to chant, "WE GOT POTTER! WE GOT POTTER!" Instead, people began to mutter to themselves, leaning closer to their friends and looking at Lydia in the same way that her Aunt, Uncle and cousin did. Automatically, she sought out Harry and their eyes met. He was sat opposite Percy Weasley and looked very shocked, but then he smiled at her slightly and nodded his head. Feeling reassured, she carefully jumped off the stool and made her way over to the Slytherin table. The moment she sat down, Draco Malfoy turned to her, smirking.

"See, I told you you didn't want to go making friends with the wrong sort,"

"I think I have a good idea of who the wrong sort is, thanks," Lydia said.

Opposite her, Daphne Greengrass gave her a funny look and Lydia wasn't sure if Daphne liked her or not. When Ron Weasley got sorted into Gryffindor and Lydia made a great show of clapping for him, she was quite sure that no one on the Slytherin table liked her or not. When George Weasley waved at her from the Gryffindor table, she felt as though things might not be so bad for her.

Though, Harry did settle into life at Hogwarts much more graciously than Lydia did. He seemed to become the Gryffindor Golden Boy quite quickly; he was just the right amount of mischievous, kind, clever and a ridiculously good Quidditch player, and everyone talked about how much he looked like their father, but had the spirit of their mother. Most importantly though, he was in Gryffindor. Lydia was clever and kept herself to herself, and so her full academic potential was never discovered. She developed a reputation for being cold and dismissive, even though what she really was was lonely. She quickly learned that no one liked Slytherins. When the First Years got lost in the gigantic castle, people sneered and turned their backs on them. Not that Lydia blamed them. Even she didn't like the Slytherins and tried not to spend too much time in the frightfully depressing common room that sat underneath the Black Lake, and instead sat in her dormitory - but only when the other girls weren't there. In the first night, they made fun of a girl called Hermione Granger, and so Lydia became friends with her the next day before Potions. And it was a rather good thing that she did - Lydia was hopeless at Potions and Hermione was not.

Indeed, if it weren't for Harry, Ron and Hermione, Lydia thought that she might have been rather unhappy at Hogwarts. Ron was a bit slow to get over his prejudice towards Slytherins at first, but once he realised that she was as much of a Potter as Harry, he no longer cared. Lydia was probably the only student who paid no attention to the house tables and defiantly sat at the Gryffindor table at meal times. The other Weasley's were quick to adopt Lydia as one of their own and other Gryffindors affectionately referred to her as the 'Slytherdor,'. When Christmas rolled around, Fred and George 'rescued' her from the Slytherin common room because it was far too depressing of a place to spend Christmas. Mrs Weasley even sent her a Gryffindor red Christmas jumper with a silver snake on it.

At the end of the school year when Gryffindor won the house cup, Lydia took on glorious moment to pretend that she was in Gryffindor and imagined the tie around her neck being scarlet and gold instead of emerald and silver.

 **Year 2**

"Oh, it's definitley her,"

"Do you think?"

"Yes! Why else would she be sorted into Slyhterin?"

"I heard she put a curse on Harry so now he just does whatever she says,"

"But she's best friends with a Muggle born!"

"Puh-lease, that's just to throw everyone off the sent of her being Slyhtherins heir,"

Lydia grit her teeth and walked past the fourth year Ravenclaws who had been gossiping about her. She wouldn't have minded it so much if they were more quiet about it. Everywhere she turned, people were saying that she was the Heir of Slytherin. Older siblings dragged their younger siblings out of her way as she walked down corridors. Some people even came up to her just to tell her that they were Pureblood.

"I truly could not care less about your blood status," she snapped, "My best friend is Muggle-born!"

She arrived in the girls bathroom in a bad mood. Hermione was sat cross legged on the bathroom floor tending to the potion whilst Ron and Harry were throwing a screwed up piece of parchment at each other. Somewhere in the depths of the bathroom, Moaning Myrtle was crying.

"Bad day?" Harry asked.

"Why do people feel the need to tell me there blood status as if I care? I'm not even Pureblood!" She exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione said firmly, "Once we get into the Slytherin common room, Malfoy will confess and he'll get expelled,"

"I still don't know why Lydia can't just let us into the common room," Ron said.

"Because Malfoy isn't going to tell us anything," Lydia said, "I can tell you the password but that's it. I can't be in the room when you're questioning him, either."

"What is the password?" Harry asked curiously.

Lydia made a face.

"Pureblood,"

As Lydia could have predicted, the entire plan went wrong. Hermione somehow turned herself into a strange cat-human hybrid and the sixty minutes went by faster than Lydia could have ever imagined. Out of pure curiosity, Lydia left her dormitory to see what was happening in the common room just as Harry and Ron fled, slowly turning from Crabbe and Goyle and back into themselves. As always, Malfoy sneered at her when he walked past her and muttered something about how she was a disgrace to the name of Slytherin.

It was only when Hermione became one of the petrified muggle-borns that the rest of the school seemed to realise that she was not the Heir of Slytherin. Some even found her to apologise to her but Lydia couldn't care less what people thought about her anymore - all she wanted was to have her best friend back. This longing somehow lead to her and Harry being trapped in the Chamber of Secrets with Ginny Weasley and, even stranger, somehow surviving.

"Do you know what this means, Lydia?" Dumbledore asked her.

She was sat in his office with Harry. She was tired and achy from the nights events and it was all she could do to not drop her head onto Harry's shoulder and fall asleep.

"I can kill big snakes with swords?"

"Not quite," Dumbledore smiled, "That sword belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. As did the Sorting Hat. The Sword of Gryffindor will present itself to a Gryffindor in a time of great need. Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that sword out of the hat,"

"But I'm in Slytherin,"

"That may be true - but we are not just our houses," Dumbledore said, "For example, your friend Hermione Granger would do just as well in Ravenclaw as she does in Gryffindor. Ronald Weasley would be an excellent addition to Hufflepuff House as much as he is to Gryffindor. And you would be a terrific Gryffindor, if it weren't for the fact that you excel so much in Slytherin,"

Lydia ended her second year feeling the proudest she had ever done of being in Slytherin.

 **YEAR 3**

"So, how did you end up in Slytherin?" Professor Lupin asked.

Harry was still in the hospital wing from falling off his broom in the last Quidditch match and Lydia was trying to spend as much time away from the Slytherins as possible. None of them had been particularly nice about the fact that her brother had nearly died and she had to leave before she was accused of trying to kill the entirety of Slytherin House. Lupin had found her wandering the grounds and invited her into his office for a cup of tea.

"Why - is there a problem with that?" Lydia asked, her green eyes flashing in the way hat they did when she was gearing up for a fight.

Lupin laughed pleasantly. "No, of course not. I just find it strange, that's all. Your father was the most Gryffindor person I could think of, as was your mother,"

"Oh," Lydia said quietly. "I don't know. The Sorting Hat said there was something more to me and decided on Slytherin. I didn't ask to be put there...but I also didn't ask not to,"

Lupin nodded and took another sip of his tea. He looked like he was in deep in thought and Lydia didn't want to interrupt him. Then he said-

"You remind me a lot of your mother, actually. And it's not just the eyes," He smiled at her, "You're just the right mix of quite terrifying and abnormally kind whilst Harry is a much more toned down further of his your father,"

"Toned down?" Lydia asked, frowning.

"James Potter had all the energy in the world and it never seemed to run out. It was fantastic when he was on the Quidditch pitch but a nightmare elsewhere. Harry seems to be able to control it a lot better than James ever could," Lupin explained, "They'd be very proud of you both,"

"Even though I'm in Slytherin?"

"Even more so because you're in Slytherin," Lupin said, "Your mother did not come to Hogwarts with any of the prejudices of the Wizarding World and James very quickly unlearned them when he met m-different people. I think if he knew you were in Slytherin, he would learn to love Slytherin as you clearly have,"

"I don't know if I love-"

"You love Slytherin traits," Lupin corrected, "You're proud to be cunning and determined. You're proud to be resourceful and clever. You're just not proud of the way your fellow Slytherins conduct themselves, but that's OK because you haven't given into them. The easy way out for you would be to friends with Draco Malfoy and entertain his own prejudices, but you don't. You don't realise this, Lydia, but the rest of the school see you for who you are-"

"A Potter?"

"No, they see you as the one Slytherin who decided you were going to show your house in a better light. The teachers see you shout down your fellow students when they're being cruel to a second year Muggle-born. They see the friendships you've formed with the Ron and Hermione, but also someone like Neville Longbottom,"

"I also like the colour green,"

Lupin laughed.

"That too,"

Months later, when Ron was pulled into the Whomping Willow by that great big black dog, Lydia felt like she finally understood the concept of fraternity. Without so much a second thought, she took her wand out and ran after Ron, somehow dodging the trees thrashing branches and dived after him. She arrived in the shrieking sack and ran up the stairs, finding Ron with none other than Sirius Black.

What happened over the next hour was a blur; Sirius Black wasn't the man she thought he was and neither was Peter Pettigrew. It then turned out that Professor Lupin hadn't been nothing close to truthful with them and Lydia very quickly decided that she never wanted to come face to face with a werewolf ever again. There had even been a glorious half hour in which Lydia thought that she and Harry would finally get away from the Dursley's but, like always, things didn't quite work out in their favour. Lydia wasn't sure why she still got upset when things went wrong anymore.

Days later, Lydia was waiting in the common room before the end of school feast that she didn't even want to go to. She was sat in the armchair by the window that looked out into the Black Lake. This was her favourite place to sit in the common room; she found nothing more comforting than looking out into the depths of the lake, occasionally spotting the squid and even a mermaid once in a while. She'd even argue that it was more comforting than sitting in those really comfy chairs by the fire in Gryffindor common room.

"I can't believe Dumbledore ever appointed that filthy Werewolf to teach us!" Malfoy sneered from the other side of the room, "I can't believe we were taught by that oaf Hagrid and Loopy Lupin in the same year!"

Before she knew it, Lydia was on her feet and had taken a leaf out of Hermione's book and slapped him full in the face.

"What do you think you're doing?" He bellowed.

"Professor Lupin and Hagrid are better men then you'll ever be," She yelled, "This is the first year we've ever had a decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, so don't you dare insult him,"

Malfoy stood up and towered over her, so Lydia did what anyone would do and stood on the table behind her. Some people laughed but quickly shut up when they saw her withering glare. Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her.

"You just wish you were in Gryffindor, don't you? You have no sense of house pride," He spat, "You're a disgrace,"

"Oh no, I have a lot of house pride. Just not for the same Slytherin as you," She hissed, "And, for the record, I'm a very proud disgrace,"

Even Malfoy didn't have a comeback for that one. If there was one thing you couldn't take away from a Slytherin, it was how proud they were.

 **YEAR 4**

"Miss Potter! What on earth are you doing? It is way past your curfew!" McGonagall yelled.

Lydia glanced at her watch. It was midnight and she hadn't even realised. It was night before their classes started and she was slowly making her way back to the dungeons.

"I'm sorry, Professor, it's just that I can't get into my common room," Lydia said.

"Why? Do you not know the password? Has no one told you?"

'Oh no, they told me," Lydia said, "With quite a lot of glee, actually. I just don't like it,"

"Miss Potter, just because you dislike a password doesn't mean-"

"No, Professor, I mean...I don't like to say the word. It's awful," Lydia said quickly, not wanting her to think she was being childish, "It's the m word,"

McGonagall nodded at her.

"I understand, Potter," She said, "I can let you in without using password now and I will talk to Professor Snape in the morning."

"Thank-you, Professor,"

"I must ask you this though - how do your fellow housemates treat you? I never see you with any other Slytherins outside of class hours. I know you talk to the younger Slytherins, but I never see you with Miss Parkinson and her group," McGonagall said.

"Honestly, Professor, they don't like me very much," Lydia shrugged, "But I don't mind. I have Harry, Ron and Hermione. That's all I need,"

"Very well, Potter, I shall see you in class tomorrow,"

Lydia had spent her first three years at Hogwarts thinking that there was nothing scarier than Lord Voldemort. But that was before she was introduced to the concept of the Yule Ball. If she wasn't a school champion, she probably wouldn't have given the entire thing much thought, but because she would have to open the Ball with the other champions, she spent most of her day worrying about it. Suddenly, there seemed to be a lot more boys in the school than usual and every single one of them were so annoying. There were no Slytherins who she wanted to give the time of day, most Gryffindor boys were just too loud, the Ravenclaws were intimidating and all of the Hufflepuffs seemed to have already asked someone.

"It's easy for you," Harry muttered, shoving his hands in his robes against the cold, "Girls don't have to ask - boys do!"

Lydia rolled her eyes.

"That's all well and good but if no one asks me then I'm going to look like a right prat dancing with myself," Lydia snapped, "The Slytherin thing doesn't help either,"

"Maybe it's just your face," Harry joked, "You can't blame everything on being Slytherin,"

"Jokes on you because we're twins," Lydia sighed, "Although, I will admit that the hair might put people off,"

"Most likely," Harry agreed, "I will be honest though, I think you mess it up even more by sticking your wand in it,"

Lydia made a face at him. She had very quickly discovered that the best place to keep her wand was in her bun. Not only did it make for easy access should someone try to attack her, but it also kept her hair in place. The only problem was that when she actually took her wand out in class, she would have to spend fifteen minutes in the next class trying to make it look socially acceptable again.

"It's practical," Lydia shrugged.

"Until someone comes and grabs it out of your hair from behind," Harry pointed out.

"Don't give anyone ideas!" She said. The bell rang and Lydia sighed. "Gotta go to Ancient Runes. See you later,"

Hermione was already in the classroom when she got there and looked very happy. She was grinning at everyone who walked in. Worried that Hermione might have finally cracked, Lydia slowly sat down next to her and turned to her before Professor Babbling arrived.

"What's up with you?" Lydia asked.

"I...I have a date to the Yule Ball," She said quietly.

"WHAT?" Lydia screamed so loudly that people turned around to stare, "Sorry. Who?"

"Don't tell anyone," She whispered, "And I mean it. Not even Harry or Ron,"

"Oh my god, it's Malfoy isn't it?" Lydia whispered.

"What? No? Don't be silly!" Hermione said, "No...it's Viktor Krum,"

Lydia almost shouted again but she very quickly stopped herself by clapping her hands over her mouth.

"He's an international Quidditch player, 'Mione!" Lydia hissed, "Merlins beard!"

"Don't tell anyone," Hermione repeated.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Lydia said, "Pinky swear and all that,"

When the bell rang, she and Hermione parted ways. Hermione was going to meet Ron and Harry for lunch whilst Lydia was going to sit in an empty classroom to catch up on all the work she missed because of the Triwizard tournament. She tried to avoid going to the library due to the fact that people stared at her and asked her stupid questions about dragons as if she was suddenly an expert on them.

Ignoring the fact that she was absolutely starving, Lydia closed the door of the classroom behind her and she piled her book next to her and began to work. In forty five minutes, she had managed to write an essay for Professor Snape and answered the five questions that Professor Sprout had set them about Bubotuber pus which still remained one the worst things that she had ever had to deal with in Herbology.

"Lydia?" Someone called.

She peered over the top of her books and saw George Weasley hovering near the door. He looked quite akward on his own without Fred or Lee Jordan.

"What?"

"Oh, you're there," he said, bounding over to her. He pulled a chair up to her desk.

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him.

"I've already told you the password for the Slytherin common room and planted Dungbombs in Marcus Flints bag. What more could you possibly want?"

He grinned at her.

"And I am more than thankful for you doing that but I was going to ask you if you wanted to come to the Yule Ball with me,"

Lydia accidentally blotted her parchment as she jumped slightly at the question.

"Yes,"

"Yeah?"

She couldn't help it but she started to giggle.

"Yes," She repeated, "I will go to the Yule Ball with you,"

He laughed and high-fived her, jumping up. "I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at quarter to eight," He said, before he closed the door behind him, he popped his head back round. "I should warn you though, I'm a terrific dancer,"

Before dinner that evening, Lydia, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on the stone steps of the Entrance Hall wrapped up in their cloaks and scarves. It was just beginning to snow but the four of them were so frozen that they couldn't bring themselves to move. Ron was in a fowl mood - he still hadn't been able to find a partner for the Yule Ball and was beginning to panic. Harry was doing what he always did when faced with an important task and was going out of his way to ignore it. Lydia still hadn't told Harry or Ron that she was going to the Ball with George but had wasted no time in telling Hermione who had squealed and accidentally hit Neville in the stomach due to the fact that she was flapping her arms about.

"I have an idea!" Ron exclaimed, "There's four of us, isn't there?"

"Congratulations, you can count," Lydia said.

"Hermione can go to the Ball with Harry and I can go with you!" He said, looking immensely proud of himself.

Lydia and Hermione exchanged looks whilst Harry nodded and said, "That's not a bad idea, actually,"

"No, it's not," Hermione agreed, "Except that it wouldn't work,"

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Becuase we both have dates," Lydia said.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"I'm not saying who I'm going with because you'll laugh," Hermione said.

Harry turned to Lydia.

"Who are you going with?" He demanded.

"George,"

Ron yelped and almost toppled down the steps. Harry had to reach out and grab him, pulling him back up.

"George?" He exclaimed, "As in George Weasley?"

"How many other George Weasleys do we know?" Lydia asked.

"But he's my brother!"

"He is,"

"And you're my best friend!"

"I am,"

"It's weird!"

"I'm sure you'll move on from it, mate,"

Lydia gasped for breath as she finally broke the surface of the Black Late and spat water out of her mouth. She muttered the counter-spell for the Bubble-Head Charm just as George opened his eyes and yelled. He looked around for a moment before he spotted Lydia.

"I did not sign up for this!" He yelled.

"And you think I did?" She shouted back, laughing.

They swam back to shore together to raucous cheers from the crowds. Percy ran to the edge of the lake and dragged them both out, wrapping them up in thick fuzzy blankets. Lydia looked around but she couldn't see any of the other Champions.

"Am I first?" Lydia asked Percy.

He nodded, grinning.

"Yes! You got back in forty minutes!" He bustled off back to the judges.

"Who knew snakes could swim?" George said behind her.

"Oh, shut up you," Lydia laughed, wiping her face on the blanket.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip in two weeks," George said, "I think we should probably go together,"

"I think we probably should go to Hogsmeade together," Lydia agreed.

"Avada Kedavra,"

Lydia tried to scream but no sound came out. All she could do was watch in horror as Cedric was murdered right before them. He lay spread-eagle on the floor, staring up at nothing. She tried to get towards him but Harry launched himself forward and dragged her backwards.

"Don't," He whispered in her ear, "Your ankle is broken. Don't move,"

Tears spilled over her cheeks and she whimpered slightly, collapsing against Harry. He put his arm around her again and started whispering for her to stay calm but that was seeming quite impossible as Wormtail moved closer and closer to them. Lydia wanted nothing than to just go back to Hogwarts, but they were miles away from the castle now and she was quite sure that she would probably never see the place again.

Wormtail grabbed them and tied them to a headstone. Lydia couldn't care less about anything anymore, she was just hoping for a quick death. What happened over the next half an hour seemed to have been pulled from her worst nightmares. Lord Voldemort rose from the dead and his Death Eaters came to his side once more. Lydia's broken ankle was throbbing and her scar was hurting so much that she thought her head might explode.

Lydia turned her head to look at Harry and tried to take in every detail of his face in case it was the last time she ever saw him. As Lord Voldemort spoke, Lydia screwed her eyes shut and tried to think of her happiest memories; Harry's reassuring nod when she was sorted into Slytherin, laughing with Harry, Ron and Hermione after watching Draco Malfoy desperately try to save his potion from melting his cauldron and George Weasley leaning closer to her after the Yule Ball-

"Take them down, Wormtail," Lord Voldemort said, his read eyes narrowing dangerously, "We shall duel,"

Lydia was ripped from her memory as she fell from the headstone and landed on her ankle. She yelled out in pain and Voldemort laughed along with his death eaters. Wormtail shoved her wand into her hand and pushed her forward. She tripped up again and laughter rose up around them again.

"It seems that Slytherin House isn't as honourable as it once was," Lord Voldemort sneered, gesturing to Lydia who now clinging onto Harry. "They seem to let just anyone in now,"

"Fuck off," Lydia snapped.

Harry groaned, "Shut up, Lyds,"

"Does Dumbledore not teach his star students manners anymore?" Voldemort said.

"Expelliarmus," Harry whispered in her ear, "Disarming spell. You got that right?" He put his arm around her waist to stop her from falling over, "Wand up, come on, Lyds, we can get out of this,"

Lydia nodded, "Yeah..." She whispered back, "Expelliarmus," She raised wand "Yeah. I've got it,"

There was one cry of "Avada Kedavra!" and two cries of "Expelliarmus!"

In months to come, Lydia would forget most of what happened that night. All she could remember was seeing the figures of people she thought she might have known and then the sound of Harry shouting, "Accio Portkey," and suddenly being back on the Quidditch pitch. The sounds of cheers at a Hogwarts victor were quickly replaced with the sounds of screaming when they realised what had happened.

Dumbledore was suddenly at their shoulders and Lydia gripped onto Cedric's arm, sobbing.

"He's back!" Harry yelled at Dumbledore, "Voldemort is back!"

 **YEAR 5**

Lydia was trying to stay as calm as possible but it really wasn't going very well. Harry had left for his hearing that morning and the fact that he wasn't back yet was panicking her. She still felt ridiculously guilty for the fact she hadn't gone on that walk with Harry the night that the Dementors attacked. At least then he wouldn't have to deal with it alone. Hermione told her that she was being ridiculous for feeling so guilt but Ginny did say that she understood where she was coming from. In the end, Lydia couldn't deal with Hermione muttering about their upcoming OWL exams and went to see what Fred, George and Ron were up to.

"Have you stopped panicking yet?" George asked.

"No," Lydia said, dropping onto the bed next to him, "I'll stop panicking when I die,"

"I love Slytherins and their optimism," Fred sighed.

The day passed slowly. Leaving Lydia to not do much but watch Ron beat everyone at Wizards chess and wonder why on earth she chose to take Arithmancy whilst struggling through her essay. It was at times like this when she had wished she chose Divination instead because at least then she could do what Harry and Ron did and make up everything they wrote in their essays. At least she had Hermione to copy off.

At around midday, the doorbell rang and Mrs Weasley shouted, "Harrys back!" Before the others had even registered what had been said, Lydia vaulted over the bed and bounded down the stairs. She didn't care that she had awoken the portait of Mrs Black who was now screaming so loudly that the very walls of the house were vibrating. Not being able to contain herself, Lydia reached out and grabbed the back of Harry's jacket so forcefully that he turned around and looked quite ready to punch her.

"Well?" She asked.

"Cleared of all charges,"

Lydia's screams of delight mixed with Mrs Blacks screams of horror as she launched herself at her brother, wrapping her arms around his neck. He staggered backwards and awkwardly patted her back.

"I'm very happy and all but I can't actually breathe," Harry gasped.

"Sorry!" She said, backing away but then she started screaming again.

Fred, George and Ginny burst into the room. "HE GOT OFF! HE GOT OF! HE GOT OFF!" They chanted, jumping around the room. Mrs Weasley tried to shush them but they were paying no attention and carried on dancing around them. Sirius came into the kitchen moments later and made a great show of shaking Harry's hand, though Lydia thought there was something insincere in the way that he was doing it.

That day, their Hogwarts letters came that day. Lydia had barely opened hers before Hermione screamed causing Lydia to fall off her bed and jump back up, her wand drawn. She looked around, expecting to see a death eater but Hermione was just stood on her bed, holding her letter.

"What is wrong with you?" Lydia asked, holding a hand to her heart.

"I've been made prefect!"

"Oh," Lydia said, dropping her wand back onto her bed. "And you're surprised...because?"

"Oh, shut up!" Hermione said though she was grinning.

Lydia snorted and opened her own letter. Something fell onto her lap and she looked down, screaming herself for it was a small green badge with a silver serpent curling around the letter 'P'.

"I'VE BEEN MADE PREFECT!" Lydia yelled, "HERMIONE! I'VE BEEN MADE PREFECT!"

Hermione looked at her and they both screamed again, jumping up and down and holding their badges above their heads like Harry did when he caught the Golden Snitch. The door banged open and Fred and George walked in, looking slightly pissed off.

"What in the name of Merlin are you screaming about?" Fred asked.

"Prefect! I'm a prefect!" Lydia screamed, jumping up and down again and waving her badge in George's face, "I'm a prefect!"

"Oh no...my girlfriend...is a Slytherin and a prefect," George whispered, looking as though he had just been told his childhood best friend had died. "This is not how I though my life would turn out," He then brightened up and kissed her, "I'm very happy for you though. I mean, that's one less person who's going to try and give me detention,"

"She's not going to abuse her power as prefect!" Hermione said crossly.

Lydia quickly looked away from Fred and George and busied herself its opening the rest of the letter whilst Hermione tutted behind her. Harry and Ron wandered in moments later and Hermione screamed again. Harry was holding a prefect badge and Hermione ran over to him, hugging him.

"Oh, Harry!" She yelled, "I knew it would be you!"

"It's not me," Hary said gruffly, "It's Ron,"

"Ron?" Hermione asked quietly.

Lydia clapped her hand over her mouth and moved to hide behind Fred and George. This was very clearly turning into a very awkward moment. She peered over Fred's shoulder just as Hermione was turning bright red and Ron's ears were steadily turning red. Harry was staring between the two of them.

"Yeah!" He said defensively, "Why wouldn't it be me?"

"I mean - no - I thought - no -Ron, this is amazing!" She said, forcing a smile onto her face. "Well done!"

George sighed loudly.

"I definitley should have asked the other Potter to the Yule Ball...I mean, he's a Gryffindor and not a prefect,"

Harry turned bright red and looked away, which Lydia thought strange but then his head snapped up.

"Wait - Lydia's Slytherin prefect?" He asked, genuinely sounding shocked.

In response, Lydia held the badge up again.

"Dumbledore's gone mad in his old age," Lydia said, "It's the only explanation,"

All attention soon turned to Ron when Mrs Weasley came into the room and realised that Ron had became Prefect.

"Harry? Lydia?" Mr Weasley popped his head into the room, "Professor Dumbledore is here to see you,"

"He's taking away your prefect badge already," Fred said.

"Probably," Lydia said, standing up, "I'd take it away too,"

Lydia expected to follow Mr Weasley into the kitchen but instead he lead them to one of the living rooms in Grimmauld Place. She thought that he was acting strange, though that could have just been because he was very tired. One things that Lydia always noticed about the members of the Order of the Phoenix was that they never looked as though they had had a full nights sleep.

Professor Dumbledore was stood outside the door of the living room with his hands clasped in front of him. He looked unusually serious though the usual twinkle was still there. He smiled pleasantly at them both and Lydia had to remind herself to smile back for a sense of foreboding settled over her. Harry was tugging at the bottom of his t-shirt in the way that he did when he was nervous.

"Now, what you are going to see behind this door might upset you, it might even scare you," He said grimly, "But please understand me when I say this - there is no dark magic at play here and even if you want to attack, please do not,"

Lydia and Harry glanced at each other and automatically moved closer together, expecting the worst. Dumbledore waved his hand and the door opened on its own accord. Together, Harry and Lydia leaned forward slightly. At first, Lydia was very, very confused for Harry was stood both next to her and in the room between Sirius and Lupin. Then she looked a little closer and realised that this person could not be Harry because his eyes were hazel, he looked a little bit older and there was no scar on his head.

Harry cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth as though he was going to say something but then closed it again. He turned and looked at Lydia as though he was expecting her to say something. She looked at Remus and Sirius both of whom looked like they were torn between laughing and crying. Finally, she turned to look at Dumbledore who was looking very solemn.

"I don't get it," Lydia said loudly.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"This is James Potter, your father,"

"No he's not," Lydia said, "Our dad is dead. There was a whole thing about it," She gestured to the scar on her head.

"That is true," Dumbledore said, nodding his head, "However, certain magic has come into play,"

"I thought there was no spell to bring back the dead," Harry interrupted, "That's what you said to us last year,"

Lydia turned and looked at the man who was claiming to be her father. She couldn't help but distrust him. It was a cruel thing to do, really, pretend to be orphaned children's father. Especially after everything that they had been through the previous summer. He smiled at her but she didn't return the smile and quickly looked away.

"There is no spell to bring back the dead, Harry, you are correct," Dumbleore said, "However, there is old, ancient magic that has not been brought into play for hundreds of thousands of years," He glanced around, "Perhaps we should sit down whilst I have this conversation. It is very confusing,"

Lydia thought that if even Dumbledore found it confusing, there was probably no point in him even trying to explain it to the rest of them. Dumbledore lead the way into the living room and Lydia and Harry sat on the couch furthest away from 'James' who was now looking very uncomfortable.

"Last summer, when Lord Voldemort returned from the dead, he murdered Cedric Diggory. When you two duelled Lord Voldemort, you were faced with the echoes of those he killed. Cedric Diggory being one of those people and, from what you have told me, he asked you to bring his body back to his parents and that is what you did-" Harry opened his mouth to interrupt but Dumbledore waved him down, "-in doing so, you did a good deed. A deed that others might have ignored given the circumstances, and so you were rewarded. A male soul, for a male soul,"

"That makes no sense!" Lydia protested, "That means that he should have come back after Quirrel died!"

"No, no," Dumbledore said gently, "You misunderstand me. Both your father and Cedric were innocent. Professor Quirrel was not. You could not save Cedric Diggory - no one in that situation could have done - but you avenged his death in the best way that you could and so you were rewarded. Do you understand?"

"A little bit," Lydia said.

"That is enough," Dumbledore said.

"So," Harry said, speaking for the first time, "That man there...that's our dad?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "I shall leave you to bond. I need to go to the Minstry and explain this,"

Once Dumbledore left the room, silence fell. 'James' was staring intently at Lydia and Harry whilst Remus and Sirius were determinedly looking away from each other. Harry jumped up and walked to the window, looking out of it. Lydia stared at her hands, trying to think of something to say. She had always imagined having parents, but now that she had one, she didn't actually know what to do with herself.

"Are you two okay?" Remus asked, "I know this is a lot for you to take in-"

"Understatement," Lydia muttered.

"-but it's best if we just talk about it,"

"I know it's a lot for you two," James said quietly, "But it's a lot for me, too. The last time I saw you both you were babies and now you're teenagers,"

Before she knew it, Lydia burst into tears. Harry raced back over to her and sat on the couch next to her and put his arm around her. That only reminded her of the fact that they had missed out on so much together. Lydia could think of a million different times in her life when all she needed was a parents advice. The sorting ceremony, for example, would have been a nice time to have gotten advice of someone who had already been through it.

"It's alright," Harry whispered, "We'll get through this together. We always do,"

Lydia nodded and wiped her eyes. She tried to pull herself back together and faced James again. There were tears rolling down his own face. Remus was leaning over the back of the couch, his hands interlocked. Sirius was leaning back against the wall, his arms folded. Harry was jigging his knee up and down.

"I'm sorry..." James whispered, "I'm sorry that I was never there for you. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to leave you to fend for yourself and not have any idea of what the Wizarding world was like...I didn't want your lives to be like this,"

"I know," Harry said, "We both know. We didn't want you to die and..and-" His voice wavered an then he burst into tears which only made Lydia cry even harder. Remus placed his hand on Lydia's shoulder and squeezed it in a way that was strangely comforting.

"You've both been through a lot," Remus said, "I know this. Sirius knows this. James...will come to know this," He cleared his throat, "But this is a good thing in your lives. For the first time, I think you've both found something good,"

"You're right," Lydia whispered, "This is something good," Lydia looked up at James and smiled at him. She saw him physically relax at this

"This is definitley one of the better things that has ever happened to us," Harry said thickly through tears.

James tentaviely walked towards them and before they knew what was happening, the three of them were sobbing in each other's arms. Behind them, Lydia heard Sirius and Remus let out sighs of relief.

"So," James said, finally pulling away, "Lydia, you're in Slytherin,"

"No, I just like to wear this Slytherin jumper for the fun of it,"

"That's me told," He muttered.

Lydia sat in a stony silence as Harry ranted at Professor Dumbledore, walking around his office and smashing things. James sat next to her with his arm around her. He hadn't really shown any emotion since they had watched Sirius fall backwards through the veil, though that could have been more to do with shock than anything else. He didn't even try and control his son as he swore at the Headmaster. The portraits that hung around the office were the only ones who seemed to be reacting to anything.

She had had too hard of a year to care about anything anymore. Between Professor Umbridge, those awful quills, half the school thinking she was mad, the DA and now Sirius dying, nothing effected her. She felt as though she had been sucked dry of any emotion that she could have possibly felt.

Harry finally fell silent and Lydia saw this as her chance to get everything across to Dumbledore.

"I want out," she said, "I don't want to do this anymore. I don't care about Voldemort. I want to be a normal kid,"

"Lydia-" Dumbledore began.

"No. I don't care. I really do not give a shit. Don't tell me about the power of love or some other bullshit because that's gotten me no where!" she napped, "I just want to be normal. I want to go to class and watch Quidditch games and not have to worry about anything else. I don't care about Voldemort anymore."

"Lyds...come on.." James said quietly.

"No, dad, no! You have no idea what it's been like for us! Between getting sorted into Slytherin, killing a Basilisk and thinking there was a mass murderer after us for a whole year, I'm done! I don't want special treatment! I don't want to be part of the Prophecy! I don't care about my fucking 'destiny'! I'll change my destiny! I'll off myself if I have to! I just don't want to be part of this anymore! I don't want to have meetings with you, I don't want to be a part of the Order! I don't want any of this! I just want to graduate Hogwarts and start again! I'll never cast another spell in my life if I have to! I'm not doing this bullshit anymore. I'm done,"

Dumbledore regarded her for a moment and Lydia geared herself up for another argument but in the end he just nodded.

"If that is your wish..."

"It is," she said bluntly.

"Then I shall keep that in mind for next year,"

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Good,"


	2. A Lone Birthday

**"Everyone can master a grief but**

 **he that has it,"**

 **-William Shakespeare**

 _The flash of the curse blinded Lydia for a moment and she stumbled backwards, knocking into Harry. He grabbed onto her arm as they both tumbled down the uneven platform on which the veil stood. Bellatrix advanced on them and raised her wand faster than either of them could ever dream of doing._

 _"_ Crucio _!" she yelled, gleefully._

 _The curse hit Lydia in the chest and she rolled away from Harry, screaming as ever bone in her body was set on fire. Harry cursed and ran towards Bellatrix, but she was a skilled witch and somehow seemed to have been able to predict his next move._

 _"_ Depulso _!" Bellatrix cackled._

 _Harry was blown off his feet and landed near Lydia who could still feel the pain of the Cruciatus curse. She tried to crawl towards him, but her arms could not hold the weight of the body._

 _"_ Cru _,"_

 _"NO!"_

 _Lydia looked up as James shouted, "_ Expel _-" but Lucius Malfoy appeared next to James and cast a spell that Lydia did not recognise; purple light engulfed his entire body and he became limp, slumping to the floor. Lydia screamed again and this time forced herself off the floor, diving towards him. He hand closed around his wrist and she felt the steady beat of his pulse._

 _Still furious, Lydia's hand scrambled for her wand and she snatched it off the ground. Lucius Malfoy hadn't even realised that she was there until her stunning spell hit him and disappeared from sight. Lydia heard Bellatrix's distinct cackle again and looked up just as the death eater began to move towards her. There was a shout of a spell and Lydia tried to throw up a Shield Charm, but her arm was knocked to the side as someone threw themselves in front of her._

 _For a moment, Lydia did not recognise them but then she saw a look of shock creep onto Sirius' face as he slowly fell backwards into the veil and-_

"NOO!"

Lydia gasped and woke up her, her heart beating out of control. Her bedroom door burst open and Harry ran in, his wand outstretched. When he saw that it was just her in the room, he visibly calmed down and showed his wand back into his jeans. He flicked her bedroom light on and awkwardly perched at the end of the bed.

"Nightmare?" he asked.

"Nothing new," she muttered, "just the usual,"

He nodded knowingly and stood up again, stretching.

"It's nearly eleven. Dumbledore will be here soon," he glanced around the room and his shoulders sagged, "You actually packed,"

"Yes," she said, "And you should have done as well. We've known he was coming since last week,"

Harry had received a letter off Professor Dumbledore and had become quite obsessed with it. He constant read and re-read it until the once tightly led scroll lay flat. Lydia paid it no attention. She had no wish to see the Headmaster of Hogwarts or be swept away in one of his ridiculous plans. Harry, on the other hand, was determined to avenge their godfathers death and seemed to be prepared to do anything to meet that goal.

Since the Ministry, Lydia and Harry's relationship had been quite strained. Lydia was quite sure that if it weren't for the fact that they were stuck at the Dursleys together, they probably would not speak or their outlooks on life had become very different. Harry was prepared to lead a life of danger and adventure whilst Lydia wanted nothing more than to have a normal life.

All the lights in Privet Drive suddenly went out and Lydia jumped, her hand already on her wand but Harry shook his head. There was a knock on the door and she heard Uncle Vernon yell, "WHO'S KNOCKING THIS LATE AT NIGHT?" followed by Albus Dumbledore quite pleasantly saying, "I see Harry did not tell you that I would be arriving today,"

"Seriously?" Lydia hissed at Harry, "you didn't tell them?"

"I forgot!"

She clenched her jaw and jumped out of bed, pulling a pair of jeans on over her pyjama shorts. As she snatched one of Mrs Weasley's knitted jumpers of her desk, she shoved Harry towards his room.

"Pack!" she snapped.

Downstairs, Dumbledore was stood in the hallway with the Dursleys. Aunt Petunia was stood in the doorway of the living room with her hands covering her mouth and Uncle Vernon was steadily turning quite a dangerous shade of red. Lydia assumed that Dudley was cowering in the living room somewhere and Dumbledore, apparently oblivious to how unwelcome he was, stood at smiled at them pleasantly.

"Ah, Lydia, lovely to see you,"

"You too, Professor," she said with as much politeness as she could muster.

"Now, Lydia, I remember what you said at the end of last term. Your father has completed a mission I sent him on for the Order so-"

"Her father is dead," Aunt Petunia snapped, "to suggest otherwise is an outrage,"

Professor Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and looked from Aunt Petunia to Lydia, "I see you didn't tell them,"

"It never came up in conversation," Lydia said, stiffly.

"Quite understandable," he said, "if you would like to get your trunk, anyway, I have organised a Portkey for you. I will sort this slight - ah - hiccup out,"

Lydia ran upstairs and grabbed her trunk, glancing around her room to make sure that she had everything. Before she went back downstairs, she popped her head into Harry's room. He was still trying to pack his trunk and was now balancing two pairs of trainers, a telescope and what looked like every potion ingredient that he had ever owned in his arms.

"Do you want me to take Hedwig?"

"Please, if you don't mind..." Harry said, dropping everything into his trunk.

"Well, I wouldn't have asked if I didn't mean it," she said, more harshly than she wanted to.

He frowned at her, "Wha-"

"I'm going to dads now," she said quickly, calling Hedwig down from the top of the wardrobe and carefully placing her in her cage, "See you later,"

"Yeah. Bye," He said, still frowning.

Lydia put Hedwig's cage under her arm and picked her trunk back up, dragging it down the stairs. The Dursleys and Dumbledore were all still stood in the hallway. Dumbledore was quietly singing what sounded like the school song to himself. Uncle Vernon was now so red that he probably could have blended in with a field of poppies.

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked.

Lydia nodded and glanced at the Dursleys. Dudley had braved the hall and looked as though he was on the verge of collapse. Dumbledore produced a broken mug from the depths of his robes and handed it to her just as it began to glow. Aunt Petunia began to scream and Lydia was quite sure that she heard Dudley begin to cry.

"I'll see you at the start of term feast," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling.

Lydia smiled at him just as she felt the familiar jerk around her navel and the floor vanished from beneath her feet. For a moment, she felt as though she was falling through the air but then she crashes onto hard floor and there was the sound of glass smashing and someone swearing.

"Oh, Merlin. Portkeys, honestly, so dangerous," someone muttered, pulling her to her feet.

For a moment, she was quite disorientated and then her eyes focused on the person before her.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, flinging herself at him.

"It's nice to know you missed me," he said, "how are my lovely in-laws?"

"Discovered you're alive about five minutes ago, so I imagine quite confused," Lydia shrugged, "how are you?"

"Dealing with everyone in the best way that I can, but it's OK. I have Remus staying with me. There was a full moon last night, though which-"

"-wasn't fun for anyone," came the mellow voice of Remus Lupin. He limped into the kitchen, looking as though he hadn't slept for years. "I would hug you, Lydia, but I feel like every bone in my body might break if I do,"

"It really wasn't fun," James said, shuddering, "Prongs nearly lost a prong. Can you imagine if I had to live the rest of my life as 'Prong,""

"It'd be a conversation starter," Lydia said.

"Except no one can know that I'm an animagus thanks to the illegality of the whole thing," James pointed out, "Although, I do feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulder now that McGonagall knows. Just goes to show that I was the best transfiguration student she ever taught,"

Remus stared at him for a moment.

"Remember when you transfigured Sirius into half a toilet?"

"That's was a fine bit of magic,"

"You were meant to be turning a pig into a desk,"

"Loads of people have done that. I bet Lydia has,"

"I once disintegrated a whole row of desks in Potions," Lydia shrugged, "I got detention for a month,"

"How did you even-" James began.

"Full disclosure, I did it on purpose so that Hermione could steal ingredients to brew an illegal Polyjuice Potion," Lydia said, "I mean, I was only meant to disintegrate mine and Harry's desk but I messed up messing up,"

"Is this your way of telling me that you've probably failed your Potions OWL?"

"Just don't be disappointed,"

James showed her to her room. It was spacious and she imagined it would have a lot of natural light. He had even gone as far as painting the wall that the bed was pushed against Slytherin colours and the bedding was all green and silver. Lydia thought that he had probably found that more painful than almost losing prong. And if that wasn't heartwarming enough, he had covered the far wall in pictures of her time at Hogwarts.

She let Hedwig out of her cage and quickly hurried over to it. She hadn't even seen some of these pictures before; there was one of her and George having a furious snowball fight the previous January on the Quidditch Pitch, one of her and Hermione emerging from underneath the Invisibility Cloak and scaring Ron, one of her, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on the edge of the lake on a bright sunny day in fourth year and one of Dumbledore's Army. There was even one of her and Luna when they turned up to a DA meeting with the exact same hairstyle of keeping their wands in their hair and Ron stood behind them, crying with laughter.

"Where did you even get these?" Lydia asked.

"I had to write to a lot of people," James said, "I figured you probably wouldn't have many pictures," he pointed at one near the middle. Lydia looked closer at it and gasped; it was a picture of Lily in what appeared to be a hospital bed, holding two tiny babies. James and Sirius were both stood on either side of her, sobbing. "Me and Sirius cried more than your mother that day,"

"We were tiny..." Lydia whispered.

"How are you two, bye the way? Are you...dealing?" James asked, carefully.

"We're fine," Lydia lied, "Harry managed to forget to tell the Dursleys that Dumbledore was coming to pick him up,"

"I bet that went well,"

Lydia changed the subject to the new school year before James realised that she hadn't actually told him anything. He started talking about his OWL results and how he felt like he probably should have done better in Potions. Remus said that he felt like he should have done worse in Potions. Lydia was trying her best to not think about her OWL results, fifth year was quite the possibly the worst year of her life all thanks to Dolores Umbridge and the constant worry that Harry might have been being possessed by Lord Voldemort. Whenever she thought back to those Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, the scars on the back of her hand began to tingle and the words, "I must not tell lies," seemed to show up stronger.

"Are you OK?" Remus asked, frowning at her.

"What? Oh, yeah," Lydia said, quickly, "I'm just remembering how I mixed up two runes,"

"You'll be fine," James said, putting his arm around her, "If Moony can pass Potions, anything is possible,"

The next morning, James woke her up by banging on her bedroom door and shouting about Hogwarts letters. At first she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep - the longer that she had been at Hogwarts, the less exciting the Hogwarts letters became. They were just boring lists about books that she would probably pretend to read for a year, but then she remembered that it was her OWL results and scrambled out of bed.

James was stood at the kitchen table, holding the envelope and looking like he was on the verge of tears.

"Ready?" he asked, throwing the letter to her.

"Not at all,"

With shaking hands, she slowly opened the envelope and took out the parchment that her grades were on and read out loud:

 _Ancient Runes - O_

 _Arithmancy - E_

 _Astrology - E_

 _Care of Magical Creatures - E_

 _Charms - E_

 _Defence Against the Dark Arts - O_

 _Herbology - E_

 _History of Magic - E_

 _Potions - A_

 _Transfiguration - E_

"You are clever!" James exclaimed, hugging her, "you need to have more confidence in yourself!"

Lydia stared at her results in shock. She had been expecting to fail everything but Ancient Runes and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Her heart swelled with pride at the sight of the small black 'E' next to Transfiguration. She had tried her best in the previous years lesson when she was discovered that she was actually quite good at it. Remus came up behind her and peered at her results, laughing quietly.

"Well, I could have predicted your Defence Against the Dark Arts result in your third year," he said, "I don't know why you're so surprised,"

"I passed Potions and everything!" she said happily.

"Are you going to take it again this year?" James asked.

"Merlin, no. I never want to see Snape again. I don't think he takes student on unless they have an O, anyway,"

"He's your head of house," Remus reminded him, "I think you'll see him,"

"No, he's not," Lydia said, dismissively, "McGonagall adopted me in first year, I just don't think she's aware of that fact,"

Life at James' apartment was better than Lydia could have ever imagined. He lived in a mainly muggle suburb, but the entire place was coated in protective enchantments to the point where Lydia wasn't sure if the neighbours actually knew they existed. Hedwig flew in and out of Lydia's open bedroom window, carrying letters to and from Hermione and George. Harry hadn't written to her once and Lydia felt that it might have been because of the slight argument that they had had before she left. The problem with the two of them was the fact that they were both awfully stubborn and would never give in first.

Before Lydia knew it, her birthday had rolled around. She woke up on the day of her sixteenth birthday and realised that this would be the first time Lydia and Harry would celebrate their birthdays separately. At once, she jumped out of bed and dived at her trunk. She yanked it open and began to pull things out of it until she found the thing she was looking for; when she had last visited Hogsmeade, Lydia had accidentally stumbled across something that was perfect for him.

In the Quidditch shop, Lydia had found a small leather bracelet with a small Golden Snitch on it. If he tapped it with his wand, it would growth it's full size and fly around him which she thought would be great for Quidditch practice or when he got bored. She didn't think he was a bracelet bloke, but he was now. She pulled a piece of parchment out of the bottom of her trunk and wrote the best birthday note she could.

" _To Harry,_

 _Happy Birthday!_

 _If you hate this, I'm really sorry but I've never claimed to be a perfect sister. It's made more fun when you tap it with your wand, though, but be careful not to lose it._

 _See you soon!_

 _Love,_

 _Lydia_ ,"

Lydia read it over and over again, making sure that it didn't sound as cold as she thought it would. Sighing, she rolled the parchment up, tied it up with a rogue shoelace she found at the bottom of her trunk and called Hedwig down from the top of her wardrobe. Hedwig hooted at her and gracefully flew down to her, obediently holding out her leg out.

"Take this to Harry, alright?" Lydia said, "I assume he's at The Burrow now with Ron and Hermione,"

She nibbled Lydia's hand affectionately and took flight out of the window. Lydia stood up and stretched, throwing everything back into her trunk haphazardly. James was waiting for her in the living room wearing a party hat and holding a badly wrapped present. He broke out into a terrible rendition of Happy Birthday and she could do nothing but stand there awkwardly.

"Thanks for that," Lydia said.

"I got you a present!" He said, holding it out to her, "It's not much, though" he added hurriedly.

She smiled at him and took it off him. She sat cross legged on the floor and ripped it open. It was a small black box and she opened it eagerly, almost dropping it out of shock of how beautiful it was. It was a delicate golden necklace on which a charm in the shape of a doe hung. The more she looked at it, the more it seemed to glow slightly.

"Thank-you," she breathed, carefully holding it up, "I love it!"

"I just thought because of your mum and your Patronus..." He trailed off, "I thought it would be nice,"

"It's amazing!"

The rest of the day passed smoothly. Hedwig returned with presents off Hermione, Ron and Harry. Hermione had bought her a really interesting set of books on Ancient Runes, Ron bought her a Holyhead Harpies jumper and Harry had outdone himself by making up a basket of all her favourite things; bottles of Butterbeer, Honeydukes chocolate, a book about spells that they would never be taught in school, a bottle of her favourite perfume that she had accidentally smashed last year and a lovely pair of earrings. At around midday, a large owl flew into her room and Lydia automatically recognised it as Fred and George's new owl. It dropped two large packages onto her bed, almost knocking her out.

The first package contained a photo album full of pictures of her and George starting at the Yule Ball and running all the way up to just before he and Fred dropped out of school in the most spectacular way possible. The second package was much softer and was a silvery blanket that adjusted to the perfect heat for whoever was wrapped up in it.

"Lyds?" James stuck his head into her bedroom, "Molly wants to know if you want to go to The Burrow for a birthday tea. Everyone's there,"

Lydia considered it for a moment but then shook her head. If by 'everyone' he meant the entire Order of the Phoenix and the entire Weasley family, and she was sure that's what he meant, then she couldn't face it, not yet. The last thing she needed was people giving her sad looks because of Sirius and the inevitable counselling session that Hermione was probably tripping over herself to have with her and Harry.

"I would, but I'm really tired," She said, "Tell her thank-you, though,"

"Are you sure everything is OK? George will be there,"

"Of course everything is fine. I just think I'm a bit burned out - with my OWL results and everything I think I've crashed a bit," She gave a convincing fake yawn, "I just sent Hermione a letter to sort out a day to meet in Diagon Alley. I've still not been to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes,"

He regarded her for a moment but finally smiled.

"Alright," He said, "Just let me know when she replies, yeah? I want to see that shop,"

Lydia smiled at him and tried to ignore the darkness that seemed to be seeping into her mind. After all, she had been the reason for Sirius' death. If she had been a bit quicker, then Sirius would never have had to take that spell for her and it would have been her who fell back through the veil. At least then she wouldn't have to deal with any nightmares. Lydia barely slept anymore for fear of being forced to relive the moment her godfather died again.

Perhaps the worst thing about it all was that she had still not cried. In the summer after Cedric had died, Lydia had done nothing but cry. And she had expected to do the same after Sirius had died, but all she had done was stare blankly at her bedroom ceiling and wonder if she would ever feel anything again.


	3. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

" ** _It's not easy to know_**

 _ **I'm not anything like I used to be, although it's true**_

 _ **I was never attention's sweet centre,"**_

 _ **-Sara Bareilles**_

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes stood out in a line of dismal shops in Diagon Alley. The usually vibrant street looked as though all of the colour had been sucked out of it. Most shop windows were boarded up or covered in posters of Dark Witches and Wizards who had escaped from Azkaban. Lydia no longer saw the point in these posters; now that Voldemort was back in the open, there was no way that anyone would ever be able to bring them in.

Where shoppers used to stop and talk in groups, they hurried past each other, their eyes firmly planted on the ground and wands held tightly in their hands. Lydia's heart sank when she saw that Florence Fortescue's shop was now boarded up. She would never forgotten how he had helped her and Harry with their History of Magic homework in the summer before their third year. As if if this trip to Diagon Alley was designed to make Lydia feel worse, her eyes fell upon Ollivanders Wand shop and saw that it too was boarded up after reports of Ollivanders being kidnapped by Death Eaters.

"Great Merlin!" James exclaimed when they arrived at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

It was a sight to behold. Easily the brightest shop in the whole street, it was also the only one that didn't have posters up about escaped Wizards. Although, Lydia did see a poster with the words 'You-Know-Poo' and could not bring herself to look any closer.

"Let's go in then," Remus said, also eyeing the 'You-Know-Poo,' poster apprehensively.

Inside, it was full to the brim. Remus immediately got swept away into the crowd and the same person stood on Lydia's feet on three separate occasions. James kept on tripping over people and was briefly attacked by a Joke Scarf, the joke being that they tried to strangle whoever put one on. Lydia had never found them particularly funny and still hadn't gotten over accidentally putting an early prototype on the previous Christmas.

The walls were lined with every product they offered from Skiving Snackboxes to fireworks to joke wands and the Headless Hats that Lydia found both amusing and terrifying. Although still slightly disturbed by the scars, James' eyes were alight in a way that told Lydia she would have to be very careful around him for the rest of the summer.

Leaving James to look at the Pygmy Puffs that she was definitely going to buy, Lydia wandered over to a more secluded section that seemed to be full of very giggly girls. Curious, Lydia picked up one of the bottles and wrinkled her nose as she read the words, 'Love Potion,'.

"I really don't think you need to be looking at them,"

Lydia spun around at the sound of George's voice and launched herself at him. Somewhere behind her, she heard someone mutter 'ew,' but she didn't care. She hadn't anticipated how much she would actually miss him that much. Between him leaving school early and then going through everything at the Ministry, she felt as though she had never fully appreciated always having someone around who knew exactly what to say to make her laugh.

"I've missed you," she told him.

"I've missed you! I thought you'd be at mums for your birthday,"

"We were going to go but I didn't feel well," she lied. Before he figured out that she was lying, she carried on. "It's amazing here, though! I can't believe you actually pulled it off!"

"Neither can I, actually," he admitted, looking around the shop, "Where's your dad?"

"He got distracted by the Pygmy Puffs. Not that I blame him," she added, "they might just be the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life,"

"Who'd have thought that Pygmy Puffs were the way to warm a Slytherins cold dead heart?"

"Shut up,"

"I did save you one though, for your birthday," he grinned, "it's a purple one. Come on, he's in the back," he took her hand and lead her through the crowds, behind the till and into the back room where Fred was. "I'm worried we won't be able to breed them fast enough. They're one of our most popular products. I'll be back in a minute,"

"Hey, Lyds," Fred said, his arms full of Skiving Snackboxes, "Happy late birthday,"

"Cheers, Fred," Lydia grinned, "Do you need any help with them?"

"Nah, it's fine, I've got them," he said, "There's a group of Ravenclaw fifth years out there begging for them, and they're meant to be the clever ones. See you later,"

George appeared holding a particularly fluffy Pygmy Puff. Lydia carefully took it in her hands and it was so cute, she almost wanted to cry. It looked up at her with big blue eyes and then squeaked, rolling around in her palms.

"I am in love with this weird fluff ball," she announced.

"I hope Hedwig will be alright with him. That owl is weirdly territorial," George said, stroking the top of its head.

"She never comes into my dormitory anyway. She prefers it in Gryffindor tower," Lydia said and then she gasped, "he needs a name!"

"After getting ten OWLs, I'm sure you'll manage to think of one," he said, leaning closer to her to kiss her, "Well done on that, by the way. You did better than me,"

"Not really an achievement, is it?"

"Not at all. But look at me now!"

Lydia carefully placed her Pygmy Puff on her shoulder and followed George out of the back, going over every single name that she could think of. Harry had found the name 'Hedwig' in a History of Magic that they had only ever read once. Lydia felt that her Pygmy Puff needed an entirely different name to Hedwig and one that wasn't so fancy.

"There's Ron, Harry and Hermione," George said, pointing over to the stairs. Hermione was waving frantically at them. James appeared next to them, followed by a quite battered looking Remus Lupin. "Hi James! Remus!"

"You got a Pygmy Puff!" James exclaimed.

"Yeah. He's a birthday present," Lydia beamed.

"What's his name?" Remus asked.

"Fabio," Lydia said promptly.

George burst into laughter and had to hold onto James' shoulder to stop himself from laughing. James snorted and grabbed Lydia's hand, pulling her towards the stairs. Ron's arm were laden with merchandise and Hermione was jumping up and down like a child on Christmas morning.

"I've missed you!" Hermione shrieked, pulling her in for a hug.

"I've missed you - but watch Fabio!" Lydia said hurriedly, pointing to him.

Harry frowned at her.

"He doesn't look like a Fabio,"

"Some people might not think you look like a Harry,"

"Lydia! Merlin, I thought I was never going to see you again!" Ginny said, coming down the stairs towards her.

"Hey, Gin. How's everything at home?"

"Bill got engaged to Fleur Delacour and now they live at home," Ron said with a slightly dreamy expression on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Remus. Ginny looked disgusted.

"She's an absolute nigh-"

"YOU'RE QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN?"

Lydia jumped backwards onto George's foot. He swore at the top of his voice and dived forward to catch Fabio who had fallen off Lydia's shoulder. James was stood with his arms in the air and whooping loudly whilst Harry desperately tried to shush him. Lydia grinned at Harry and he grinned back sheepishly. She knew how much Quidditch meant to him and how excited he probably was about this, though she could have easily predicted that he would be captain once Angelina left. Even Professor Trelawney would have been able to predict that correctly.

"Well done, mate," She said.

"Thanks," He grinned, "I wasn't expecting it..."

"You're the only one who wasn't," Ginny said.

James was still whooping and seemed completely oblivious to the ongoing conversation. Lydia noticed Harry breakaway from the group and look out of the window. Feeling like nothing good could possibly come of this, Lydia sidled over to him and glanced out of the window, automatically seeing what had caught his attention: Draco Malfoy was hurrying up the street alone, glancing over his shoulder. Seconds later, he moved beyond the scope of the window and they lost sight of him.

"Wonder where his mummy is?" Harry said, frowning.

"Wonder where - what?" Lydia asked.

"We saw him before in Madam Malkins with his mum," Harry said.

"He doesn't have to be with his mum constantly, does he?" Lydia pointed out, though even she didn't quite believe what she was saying; Narcissa Malfoy was as likely to let her precious son out of her sight willingly than Lydia was to marry him. Malfoy must have a made a real effort to get away on his own.

Harry glanced around and Lydia did too, knowing where this going. Ginny and Ron were looking at the Pygmy Puffs whilst Hermione was inspecting the the collection of Muggle magic tricks with Mr Weasley who looked delighted. James and Remus were in fits of laughter on the other side of the shop looking at something and Fred and George were both helping customers.

"Get under here," muttered Harry, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Lydia said, glancing at Mrs Weasley.

"Come on!" He said. Without waiting for an answer, he threw the cloak over the two of them and they hurried towards the door. No one noticed them vanish - Fred and George's products were all far too distracting.

"He was going in that direction," murmured Harry, "C'mon,"

Harry had grown so much in the summer that he now had to crouch down so that the cloak covered them both fully, making for a quite uncomfortable journey. They scurried along, glancing left and right through the shop windows at doors but Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. Lydia was quite thankful of this fact - she was missing Fabio and the longer they were aware, the more chance there was of someone realising they were missing, and that was bound to cause a commotion.

"There he is! Look where he's going!" whispered Harry as Malfoy turned left.

"Big surprise," Lydia muttered for he had just slid into Knockturn Alley and out of sight.

"Quick, we need to follow him," Harry said, speeding up.

"Our feet might be seen!" Lydia hissed, glancing down at the cloak that was now flapping around their ankles, "If you weren't so damn tall all of a sudden we'd-"

"Shh!" He said, "Look where he is!"

They arrived outside Borgin and Burkes. Lydia glanced inside and grimaced. It as full of ancient artefacts that Lydia would happily bet all her money were contaminated with Dark Magic. There, in the midst of it all stood Draco Malfoy with his back to the window. He was moving his hands around a lot and seemed to be talking animatedly. This struck Lydia has very strange - she wasn't sure she had ever seen him talk so eagerly about something in all the time that she had known him. Curiously, a man who Lydia assumed was either Borgin or Burke was stood facing Malfoy and looked quite fearful.

"That's Borgin," Harry whispered. He shoved his hand in his bag and took out two Extendable Ears and passed one to her.

"...you know how to fix it?" Malfoy asked, as though he was standing right to next to them.

"Possibly," said Borgin in a way that sounded like he wasn't too eager about how everything was going, "I'll need to see it, though. Why can't you bring it in the shop?"

"It has to stay put," Malfoy said firmly, "You just need to tell me how to do it,"

Borgin shook his head. "I can't do it without seeing it,"

"No?" Malfoy asked sneeringly, "Would this make you more confident?" He moved towards Borgin and was blocked from view by a cabinet. All Lydia and Harry could see was Borgin looking very frightened.

"Tell anyone, and there will be retribution. Do you know Fenrir Greyback? He's going to be checking in to make sure you're giving the problem your full attention,"

"There will be no need for-"

"I'll decide that," Malfoy snapped, "I'd better be off. Keep that one safe. I'll need it,"

"Why don't you take it now?"

"Why would I do that? How would I look carrying that down the street," and he swept out of the shop.

They stayed silent as Malfoy stalked past them and waited a few minutes before hurrying back up Knockturn Alley. Harry was silent the entire time and Lydia could tell that he as thinking about everything that they had just heard. Lydia thought the entire thing was just a bit strange and probably just Malfoy getting his mum a weird Mother's Day present. She was quite sure that Harry wouldn't think it was anything of the sort.

When they got back to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Harry pulled the cloak off them and shoved it back in his bag. Lydia fought her way through the crowd and over to George who was selling pimple vanisher to Eloise Midgen. Fabio was swaying on his shoulder slightly, squeaking.

"Hello, Eloise," Lydia smiled, reaching up and taking Fabio back.

"Where've you been?" George asked, "I've been trying to find you,"

Lydia glanced around to make sure that Mrs Weasley wasn't listening and explained what she had just saw with Harry.

"Weren't you the one just saying that you weren't doing, and I quote, 'none of that sneaky shit,' this year." George asked her quietly.

"Yes, well, it's very hard when you've got a brother like mine," She scowled, "But seriously, once I get back to Hogwarts, I'm just focusing on my school work,"

George frowned at her, "Are you sure you're OK?"

"Yes, George, I'm fine," Lydia said, distractedly.

"You seem different,"

"I-"

"Lydia! There you are, dear. It's so lovely to see you!" Mrs Weasley bustled over to her and gave her a hug, saving her from having to answer. "You must come back and spend the rest of the summer with us!"

"I would, Mrs Weasley, but I think I'll spend some time with my dad," Lydia said.

Behind his mother, George raised his eyebrows at her and Lydia managed to smile at him as though everything was fine. Mrs Weasley peered closer at her.

"Are you OK, love?"

"Fine, Mrs Weasley. Just ready to get back to school and start again,"


	4. Back to Reality

_**"Isolation is aloness that feels forced upon you,**_

 _ **like punishment,"**_

 _ **\- Jeanne Marie Laskas**_

"I have a job!" James announced on the morning of September 1st. Lydia was still half asleep and was much more interested in her porridge.

"A what?" She yawned.

"A job! At Hogwarts!"

Lydia choked on her porridge. "Please don't tell me your teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts,"

"No, I'm taking over from Madam Hooch," he said, "Dumbledore just sent me an owl!"

"Great, you can annoy Harry for the whole Quidditch season,"

Lydia wasn't sure that she had ever seen her dad so happy then when he came to the realisation that he would be able to badger his son for a full ten months. In fact, she definitely hadn't because they both became so overjoyed at the fact that he was going back to Hogwarts that they didn't realise it was half past ten and Lydia still hadn't finished packing properly. Still, she thought as she sat on top of her trunk to try and make it shut on her telescope, it wouldn't be the first of September if she wasn't running late.

By the time they got to Kings Cross, it was five minutes to eleven and she was having flashbacks to second year and the barrier closing on her.

"You're going to miss the train!" James yelled over his shoulder. He was carrying her trunk and Hedwig in her cage.

Lydia trailed behind him slightly, holding Fabio close to her chest in an attempt to not make him visible to the Muggles. James threw her trunk on the train and handed her Hedwig's cage. He quickly hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Be good. Be careful. See you later,"

"Bye!" She yelled, only just managing to get on before the doors began to shut.

Once she was on the train, she suddenly felt very alone. She had no idea where Harry or any of the others were and she was more than aware of people staring at her. Sighing, she hoisted Fabio onto her shoulder, picked up her trunk and Hedwig and made her way down the train towards the prefects carriage, hoping to bump into a friendly face.

"Hey, Ron,"

He was stood next to the door of the prefect carriage, obviously doing his best to not look horrifically bored. Hermione was sat next to the new Head Boy, listening to what he was saying intently. Lydia felt like his name was Andrew, or maybe Felix.

"Hello," He said, "Just spouting off the same old shit - don't take points for stupid reasons, don't give detentions for stupid reasons, always turn up to duty on time...he's acting like we've not been doing this for a year,"

"Not everyone has," Lydia pointed out, "I would've thought that Ginny would be made prefect.."

"Nah, causes too much trouble, doesn't she?" He shrugged, "Saying that, you haven't been an angel, have you?"

"And you have?"

"Are you two listening over there?" The Head Boy snapped.

Lydia and Ron both jumped and tried to look as innocent as possible. Ron nodded his head furiously whilst Lydia mock saluted him. He glared at them for a moment before continuing his quite boring lecture about his new Prefect system. Half way through, Lydia yawned and turned her attention to Fabio who was nibbling on her earlobe and wouldn't stop. Ron found the whole thing so amusing that he was turning purple from trying to keep his laughter in.

"Alright, that's it for now." Andrew/Felix finally said, "the prefect timetable will be on your common room notice board. Make sure you read it and take a copy for yourself,"

"So much fun," sighed Lydia, stretching.

"Yeah...I'm going to find Harry. You coming?" Ron asked her.

She froze in her tracks.

"Later. I want to talk to Ernie," She said, saying the name of the first person she saw.

"Hermione!" Ron called across the carriage, "Are you coming?"

Lydia flattened herself against the wall as people began to file out. Malfoy glared at her when he passed and she tried to return the stare but suddenly faltered. Up close, he looked terrible; his skin looked grey, his usually perfect hair was limp and there were bags under his eyes that made him look twenty years older.

"What are you looking at, Potter?" He sneered.

"Morning, Lydia!" Ernie Macmillan said pompously.

She liked Ernie, she really did, but he was only good in small doses and just that one sentence was her fill until at least December. Still, she smiled at him nevertheless and reminded herself that she'd be able to get away from him at some point.

"How was your summer?" Lydia asked as they set off down the train.

"It was good, it was good. How was yours?" He asked.

"Yeah, no, it was fine. Didn't do much but- hey, we can go in here," Lydia said, cutting the conversation short. The last thing she wanted to do was get onto the subject of Sirius and she felt like that was where his conversation was going, "Hey Dean, Seamus..."

"All right, Potter?" Seamus grinned. Dean was sat across from him, his legs stretched out across the seat. He looked like he was in a bad mood.

"Anyone else feel like the summers just get shorter and shorter?" Ernie asked, "We went to America, this summer, to visit my..."

Ernie's story about his time in America visiting his aunt took most of the journey. It was only punctured by the trolley lady, a few people sticking their heads in the compartment to say hello and a brief commotion in which two fourth years tried - and failed - to duel. Lydia was quite sure that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't appreciate two students visiting her this early in the year, but she was actually quite sad to miss her reaction.

Whilst Ernie was indulging in a few too many pumpkin pasties and wasn't boring them all, Seamus asked if they were doing DA lessons again that year.

"There's no point really, is there?" She said, "whoever is teaching us this year won't be nearly as bad as Umbridge,"

"Shame really, I got an E in my Defence owl," Dean said, speaking up for the first time.

"I'm sure you can keep it up, Dean," Lydia said, "You were good,"

"Yeah. I'm sure I can," For some reason, he cast a dark look at Seamus who suddenly looked quite awkward but before Lydia could ask what was up with them, Ernie started to speak again.

"How did we all do in our OWLs?" Ernie asked, which then turned into another long monologue off him and by the time the train pulled up at Hogsmeade station, neither Lydia, Dean or Seamus had managed to get a word in about their exams.

Carefully, Lydia placed a sleeping Fabio onto her shoulder and gave Hedwig some owl treats before following Ernie off the train. She glanced up and down the platform looking for Harry, Ron and Hermione but the crowd of people was so thick that she got swept back up the platform and towards the carriages.

"Luna!" Lydia called, spotting her, "Luna!"

Looking as dreamy as ever, Luna turned around and looked at her with her big pale eyes that made it seem like she could see right through her. Her dirty blonde hair fell over her shoulders and her wand was tucked behind her ear for safe keeping. As always, she had a copy of the Quibbler stuck under her arm.

"Hello, Lydia," she said, "Who's this?" she pointed at Fabio who seemed to be using her hair as a blanket whilst he slept.

"Oh, this is Fabio. He's a Pygmy Puff," Lydia said, "George got me him for my birthday,"

"He's lovely. They've been known to sing on Boxing Day, you know?"

"Oh," Lydia said, "Right. Well...I look forward to that,"

A carriage pulled up next to them and they climbed in. Seconds later, the carriage door opened again and Ron, Hermione and Neville clambered in. Lydia looked out of the window and frowned, she was expecting Harry to be stood there but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Harry?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know. I thought he was with you," Hermione said, "He went looking for you when he was invited to see Professor Slughorn,"

"Professor who?" Lydia asked.

"Slughorn," Neville said, "He's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He said he invited you to have tea with him on the train but they couldn't find you,"

"I was with Dean, Seamus and Ernie," Lydia said, "I'm not that hard to find,"

"He's probably with Ginny," Ron said, "that train platform is a nightmare,"

The carriage shuddered to a halt and the doors sprang open. Lydia jumped out and looked around. Harry wasn't getting out of any of the carriages that were stopping behind there on and Ginny had just gotten out of the last one. Hermione looked anxious whilst Lydia could tell that Ron was just thinking about the feast. Luna had already wandered off and Neville was looking at a plant that he had just produced from one of the pockets in his robes.

"I'll wait for him," Lydia said to Hermione, "He'll be here soon,"

"I don't know why we're worried. He does stupid shit like this all the time," Ron said, "He'll turn up in twenty minutes with stories of how he wrestled a troll or something. See you later, Lyds,"

Hermione, Ron and Neville walked up to the castle whilst Lydia turned her back on Hogwarts and watched the rest of the carriages come up the pathway but Harry didn't get out any of them. Even though everything that Ron had said about Harry was true, she couldn't help but imagine every horrible thing that could have happened to him. Bellatrix Lestrange's evil cackle echoed through her mind whilst the flash of Lord Voldemort's killing curse consumed her as the dark mark hovered in the air over her brothers body.

Fabio squeaked in her ear and rolled down her arm. She only just managed to catch him when the voice of one of her least favourite people reached her ears.

"Potter, what are you doing?"

Lydia looked up into Professor Snape's dark eyes. His greasy hair fell in curtains around his thin pale face and he was wearing the sneer that Lydia most associated with being put in detention. She held Fabio closer to her for fear that he might die of exposure to too much grease.

"I'm waiting for my brother, sir, I haven't seen him since I got on the train," Lydia replied.

"You'll be pleased to know that I am going to pick him up from the school gates now," He said, "So I suggest you make your way into the castle. I'm sure that he can wait until the morning to see you," He looked down at Fabio, "Also, Potter, I don't believe that you will be able to keep that thing with you," He looked positively gleeful at the prospect of being able to confiscate something off her, "products from the Weasley's joke shop are banned,"

Lydia thrust Fabio in his face and Snape actually took a step back.

"Please, Professor, he's just a Pygmy Puff. All he does is roll around, squeak and sleep. He can't do any harm," Lydia explained before adding, "He's called Fabio," as if this would help her case in anyway.

"I do not care for his name, Potter, or what he does. I don't need you bringing any more shame to Slytherin house. Please make your way up to the castle or I shall put you in detention," He snapped.

"Can I not wait-"

"Go," He said in his meanest voice and Lydia had no choice but to make her way back up to the castle.

The best thing about being in Slytherin for her was the fact that she was able to push as many of Snape's buttons as she liked because he would never take points off his own students, no matter how much he disliked her. Still, she thought to herself as she made her way into the Entrance Hall, at least she wouldn't have to see much of him that year. No potions meant no Snape and she felt she would be able to cast a Patronus at the very thought.

The sound of the happy babble of the Great Hall reached her ears and she stopped in her tracks. At the staff table, she could see James sat in between her Ancient Runes Professor, Professor Babbling, and Hagrid. Professor McGonagall was rolling up the piece of parchment that contained the first years names and was ordering Seamus to carry the Sorting Hat out of the hall.

Lydia scanned the Gryffindor table and saw Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat together. For some reason, Lydia hovered at the doors and couldn't bring herself to go and sit with them like she had done for five years. She spotted Malfoy sat at the end of the Slytherin table and hurried over to him, punching him in the arm to get his attention.

"What do you want, Potter? Aren't you sat at the wrong table?" He asked coldly. Crabbe and Goyle laughed.

"I'm not actually sat down, Malfoy," She replied, "I want the password to the common room,"

"Why?"

"Because I'm a Slytherin and have every right to be in there," she said, "Why else would I want it?"

"It's not like you to miss the start of term feast,"

"And it's not like you to ask me this many questions. I guess things are changing," she snapped, "just tell me the password, please."

"Salazar,"

"Original," she muttered before rushing out of the Great Hall and down to the kitchens.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go to the start of term feast, because she did. In fact, it was the one thing that she had been thinking of all the summer with the exception of Lord Voldemort coming to kill them all. But when she had saw all the students in the Great Hall, all talking like nothing had happened, like there wasn't a great force of darkness outside wanting them dead, Lydia knew she wouldn't be able to face them without causing a scene. And she was more than done with causing scenes wherever she went.

"Miss Potter! How lovely to see you!"

Lydia was brought out of her thoughts by Dobby the House Elf running over to her. He was wearing a too big jumper that looked like it had been knitted by Mrs Weasley and was still wearing all the hats that Hermione had knitted the previous year. As always, he looked quite mad but Lydia couldn't help but be delighted to see him.

"Hello, Dobby," she said, "I know you're busy with the feast, but you couldn't give me a food could you?"

"Is Lydia Potter not going to the feast?" He asked.

"No, Dobby..I'm...I'm a bit tired and it always goes on a bit," she shrugged, "Could you do something for Fabio, as well?" She showed Dobby him and he beamed even brighter at the sight of the sleeping Pygmy Puff, "He'll eat anything,"

10 minutes later, Doby reappeared with a plate full of food for Lydia, and a small box of leftovers for Fabio. Another house elf handed her some bottles of Pumpkin juice. Lydia repeatedly told them how grateful she was before making her way to the common room and seating herself in her favourite seat by the window looking out in the Black Lake. She sat back in her chair, let Fabio loose on the box of leftovers and got stuck into her pasta, wondering why on earth she had never done this before.

"Oh, Fabio..." She sighed, "I feel like this is going to be a long year,"

He squeaked and rolled off the table after over indulging in potatoes.

The next morning, Lydia was sat at the bottom of the Slytherin table when Snape appeared in front of her. She jumped so violently that she knocked an entire jug of Pumpkin juice in Blaise Zabini's lap who threatened to "hex her within an inch of her life,". Lydia felt that this was an overreaction and turned her attention to Snape, expecting the worst.

"You passed all of your exams," He said, with a hint of surprise in his voice, "And none of them are under the grade expected by your teachers so you can take whatever you wish,"

"I want to do Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology," Lydia reeled off.

"What about Potions?"

"I only got an A, sir, I can't carry on. You said you only took us on if we got-"

"I may have said that, but Professor Slughorn is more than happy to take you on even if you only got an A...he said that he believes in you," Snape explained.

"Sorry, Professor, I don't quite understand, what's Professor Slughorn got to do with anything?" Lydia asked.

"He's the new Potions master. I will be taking Defence Against the Dark arts from now on,"

Lydia stared at him for a second, hoping that this was joke but Professor Snape was never one to crack a joke.

"Yes, anyway, I would like to drop Defence Against the Dark Arts and take Potions instead,"

Snape ignored her and tapped her timetable with his wand, handing it to her.

"Although I may not be your teacher anymore, I don't think you'd be able to handle the pressure of a NEWT Potions class." He said, "Off you go,"

Lydia hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and sped off to Ancient Runes, glancing down at her timetable. Her second lesson of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts and she suddenly wished that Umbridge was still teaching them. If Defence classes started going the way that Potions classes used to, Lydia thought that she might have to start the DA up again.

Unsurprisingly, Hermione was already waiting outside the Ancient Runes classroom for her but they didn't have much time to talk because Professor Babbling called them into her classroom and she wasted no time in beginning the lesson. As the bell rang, she gave them two books to read, a fifteen inch essay and two translations.

"...to be completed by Wednesday,"

"Wednesday?" Lydia exclaimed.

"Wednesday," Babbling repeated.

"...but it's Monday," Lydia said.

"Quite right, Potter," Babbling replied, "But you're more than capable. You didn't get an O for nothing,"

"What lesson do we have now?" Lydia asked, holding the books close to her chest.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," Hermione replied.

"Hermione, if you're stuck on what to get me for Christmas, just kill me,"

"That's not funny, Lydia," Hermione said seriously.

"I really wasn't trying to be funny,"

Harry and Ron arrived to Defence Against the Dark Arts just after Lydia and Hermione did. She had only sat through one lesson and her arms were already hurting from the books she was carrying and her head was pounding. She knew that the next hour probably wouldn't help either of these things. And when the classroom door opened revealing Snape, she knew would only feel worse by the time this hour was over.

Indeed, when Lydia had sat down and taken her books out of her bag, she completely switched of from whatever Snape was saying and was trying to ignore the headache. The Wizarding world was an amazing place, it really was, but sometimes all Lydia wanted was two paracetamol and a lie down. The only thing she was aware of was the fact that Snape seemed to have developed a very annoying habit of walking around near Harry and Lydia's desk.

Snape had them divide into pairs and Lydia had no idea what was going on until Ron nudged her and said, "Are you going to try and jinx me or what?" Lydia very quickly glanced at the board and read what Snape had written there. Non-verbal spells seemed like the worst things that she could possibly do with a headache.

After twenty minutes of trying, Lydia had managed to repel Ron's stunning spell with an unspoken Shield charm. Hermione had managed to do the same thing but Snape ignored them both and instead put his time into criticising Harry for being unable to jinx her.

"Move, Granger," He snapped, "Maybe you would do better at protecting yourself, Potter. Here - let me show you-'

Lydia knew what was going to happen before it did. Snape quickly turned his wand on Harry who did the exact same thing and yelled, 'Protego!". His Shield Charm was so strong that Snape was knocked off balance and fell against the desk behind him. Lydia winced as Snape stood up again looking particularly evil.

"Do you remember me telling you were a practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Yes, sir,"

"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor,"

Ron snorted and Lydia clapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling loudly. Hermione gasped and looked between Harry and Snape who were both glaring at each other. Lydia couldn't decide which one looked angrier.

"Detention, Potter, my office, Saturday,"

The bell rang and they hurriedly left the classroom. Ron was still laughing whilst Hermione was giving Harry a lecture. Seeing her chance to get away whilst they were all distracted, Lydia slowly backed away and made her way up to the Arithmancy classroom before anyone could shout her back. She slid down the wall outside Arithmancy, opened one of her Ancient Runes books and began to read it, stifling a yawn.

"Potter!"

Lydia glanced up from where she was sat and narrowed her eyes as Orville Urquhart made his way towards her. He was in the year above her and thought they were both in Slytherin, she wasn't sure he had ever actually had a conversation with him. She was also quite sure that prior to this, he had never actually played on the Quidditch team so could not understand why he was wearing the Captain's badge. She had been expecting someone like Malfoy to be picked for Captain.

"What do you want?" She snapped.

"Don't be so rude about it," He said, holding his hands up. "No, listen, Vaisey doesn't want to play Quidditch this year-"

"Shame," she said sarcastically, "I don't know if I can live with that news. I might just have to go and kill myself now,"

He glared at her.

"I'm going out of my way to be nice to you here, Potter," He growled, "I want you to play Quidditch this year,"

"Come again?" She was sure that she had heard him wrong.

"I want you to play Quidditch this year. As a chaser," He said loudly.

"Fuck off," she said, pulling her Ancient Runes book back towards her.

He slammed his hand down onto her book and she dropped it onto the floor. Fabio squeaked in fear and rolled off her lap and hid under her robes. Urquhart crouched down opposite her and looked at her with what might have been a slight pleading look in his eyes.

"Potter, I'm being serious," he said, "your dad was a good Quidditch player and as much as it pains me to say it, your brother is the the best seeker in the school. I would bet all my money you're just as good,"

Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes!"

"Who's on the team this year?"

"Me, you and Blaise are Chasers. Crabbe and Goyle are Beaters and Malfoy is still Seeker," He said quickly, "I found a new keeper this morning too. Edward Fredericks, fourth year. He's not amazing but he's better than Ron Weasley," When he noticed the look on Lydia's face he quickly backtracked, "I didn't mean it like that! Please, Potter, I'm desperate!"

"I don't know how much attention you pay to anything, Urquhart, but Draco Malfoy and I are not the best of friends. I would also presume that Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle are not my biggest fans, either. That is the sort of team work that would not make the dream work," she snapped. She was speaking so loudly that the people near them stopped their conversation to listen in, "However, the thought of us having to work in a team has greatly amused me and I'd rather kill myself than not see that happen,"

"So..is that a yes?"

"Yes,"

He grinned at her.

"Practice tomorrow at half seven. Oh - also, I want to keep it a surprise just because I'd love to see your brother have a heart attack on the pitch,"

Before she knew it, Lydia was on her feet and had her and pointed at his throat. The group of Ravenclaws near them had fallen silent and were now staring at them. Urquhart actually squealed and backed away from her, fear flashing through his eyes.

"Let me get a few things straight before we do this. First things first, if I hear one bad thing said about my brother or any of my friends, I'll snap all your brooms so fast you won't even realise until you realise they won't fly. Secondly, don't even try and turn me against b brother because it won't work. I'd much sooner score for Gryffindor than Slytherin if any of you start acting up. Got it?"

"I've got the general message, yes."

"Good, I'll see you tomorrow,".

She stuck her wand back in her hair, put her books under her arms and scooped Fabio up, marching into the room as the bell rang and being well aware that everyone was talking about her behind her back.


	5. Pretty Boy

**_"Family quarrels are bitter things._**

 ** _They don't go according to any rules._**

 ** _They're not lie aches or wounds,_**

 ** _they're more lie splits in the sin that won't heal because_**

 ** _there's not enough material,"_**

 ** _\- F. Scot Fitzgerald_**

Lydia dragged herself to the common room at half past eight and watched as the Common Room slowly began to empty. Sixth Years were due in potions now, and Lydia was one of the many that wouldn't be taking it. Millicent Bulstrode was sat in the corner of the room with Tracey Davis. Their heads were bent close together and they were whispering whilst glancing over at Lydia who was quite sure that they were talking about her. There were a few other seventh years milling about as well, though most were just bent low over their parchment, writing furiously.

"Potter, your dad's here!" Urquhart called, sticking his head back through the entrance on the way out, "says he wants to talk to you,"

Lydia marked where she was up to in her Arithmancy book and picked Fabio up, placing him on her shoulder. James was awkwardly stood outside the Slytherin common, casting furtive looks at it. He smiled when he saw her but Lydia could tell that something was wrong with him.

"How was your first week back?" James asked.

"Yeah, it was fine," Lydia shrugged, "Just a lot of work. How was your first week teaching?"

"First years have gotten a lot ruder since the last time I was here," He said, "One tried to hit me with a broomstick,"

"Was it a Gryffindor?"

"How did you know?" He asked.

"You're all annoying," Lydia said, "It's the kind of thing Seamus Finnigan would have done in first year. He would probably still do it now, actually,"

"You have a free period right now, right?" He asked. When she nodded he said "Let's go and eat breakfast in my office. I don't have a class right now,"

His office was very cosy. It wasn't as big as most teachers offices but it was one of the more homely ones. His desk was pushed back against the wall and was already a complete mess. There were three pictures on it; one of him and Lily, another of him, Sirius, Remus and Peter and one of him with Lydia and Harry from the previous Christmas at Grimmauld Place. There was an unlit fire that was surrounded by big plump couches. If anything, it looked like a tiny version of the Gryffindor common room.

"This is cute," Lydia said.

"I think I might have taken this decorating business a bit too seriously," He shrugged, taking Fabio off her shoulder and stroking him. "I think Fabio might be the cutest thing in the entire world,"

"Oh no, he definitely is," Lydia agreed, "I'm worried I would kill people for him," She sank into one of the armchairs and automatically felt like she was going to fall asleep. James lay across the couch opposite her and she suddenly felt like she was about to conduct a therapy session for him.

"I was talking to Professor Slughorn earlier," James said suddenly.

"What's he like? I've not seen him yet," Lydia said.

"He used to teach me," James said, "Moony was terrible at potions so I spent most of my lessons trying to stop him from blowing his cauldron up,"

"Something tells me you used to just pretend to help him but actually make it worse,"

"You can see right through me," James sighed, "But that's not the point - Professor Slughorn said he was willing to take you on but you didn't take the chance. Why?"

Lydia shrugged.

"I don't know. Potions was never my strong suit. There's no point in taking a subject I don't like and am terrible at, is there?"

"I know what you mean but I thought you wanted to be an Auror?"

"I did, but...I can't be dealing with any of that, dad. I just want to have a normal job. I don't care what I do, I just want to be as normal as possible," Lydia said, "And I know it's probably quite hard to be normal considering I'm...well, me...but I want to try as hard as I can to just have a normal life,"

"I understand," said James softly, "I really do," He paused for a moment and they watched Fabio roll around on the ground for a while. "There's just one thing I don't understand..why are you so distant all of a sudden? I never see you at meal times and Harry, Ron and Hermione have both said that they've only spoken to you once or twice. Harry's panicking because he thinks he's done something wrong,"

"It's just hard. They're in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin," Lydia shrugged, "And we all have different timetables. The three of the are in potions right now but-"

"Cut the bullshit, Lyds," James interrupted, "You being in a different house has never made a difference before, so why does it now? Last year, you told me how you spent most of your time in Gryffindor tower instead of the dungeons. And you never mentioned how you and Harry barely spoke in the summer. Is that why you didn't want to go to The Burrow on your birthday?"

Lydia clenched her jaw and turned her attention back to Fabio. She hated the fact that Harry, Ron and Hermione had clearly come to James just to talk about her. If they cared so much about the fact they had barely spoken to her, why didn't they come and find her themselves? Why did they think that the best answer would be to talk about her behind her back? And Slytherins were the ones with the reputation of being sly...

"I just need time to pull myself together," Lydia said firmly, "A lot happened last year and I'm trying to deal with it," the scars on the back of her hand began to tingle again, "Give me until Christmas and I'll be fine,"

She suddenly jumped up and grabbed Fabio off the floor. He squeaked slightly as she dropped him in her pocket. James stood up.

"I'm sorry, Lydia, I didn't mean to-"

"I have loads of stuff to do for Arithmancy," Lydia said, "I'll see you later,"

"Lydia, wait, I-"

But she had already slammed the door behind her and was walking back to the common room through the deserted corridors. She had never been more thankful that most people were in class. People seemed to stare at her more than usual these days and she heard most of them whisper. They wondered if she had been driven mad by what had happened at the Ministry and whether that was the reason why she was never seen with her brother and the other two. The Gryffindors wondered why she never sat at their table anymore and the Slytherins wondered why she still hadn't started sitting with them.

When Lydia got back to the common room, she dropped back down in her usual seat and rested her head on her hand, looking out into the Black Lake. The Giant Squid floated lazily by and Lydia raised her hand and waved at it. It waved back. She sighed as the realisation that she was slowly but surely turning into Hagrid with two magical creatures as her closest friends. And there's nothing wrong with being Hagrid, Lydia thought to herself, if everyone was a bit more like Hagrid, the world would be chaotic, but it would be the best kind of chaotic.

"Lydia?" A slightly tentative voice asked.

Lydia turned to find Daphne Greengrass one of the girls in her year stood over her. If she had to choose a favourite Slytherin, it would probably be Daphne. She was friends with Pansy Parkinson, but Lydia often felt like this was a grudging friendship. She had kind brown eyes and light brown hair that fell to her shoulders.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but you dropped your Pygmy Puff," she held out her hands to reveal Fabio fast asleep, "when you came back to the common room, he rolled out of your pocket,"

"Oh, thank-you, Daphne. He does it more often than not," Lydia took him off her and placed him on the table in front of him.

"He's really sweet. What's his name?" Daphne asked, sitting down opposite her.

"Fabio," Lydia replied, "my boyfriend got him me for my birthday,"

Daphne smiled at her.

"That's such a thoughtful present. How is his shop going? I've not been yet but I've seen so many people with Pygmy Puffs that I feel like I need one,"

"It's going great! It's amazing, actually. I think they're a little low on stock at the moment but I can write to him and get him to reserve you one if you want," Lydia said, "Do you want a pink or purple one?"

Daphne beamed. "Oh, that would be amazing! Thank-you so much, Lydia! A pink one, please!" Then Pansy Parkinson shouted her over and the smile melted off her face. "Anyway, I'll see you later,"

The rest of the day passed with very little incident. Lydia went out of her way to avoid Harry, Ron and Hermione. She doubted that Harry and Ron noticed her strange ways of avoiding them, but she was quite sure that Hermione noticed every single time. She didn't see James for the rest of the day, either, which made her feel a lot worse. She felt awful for getting so annoyed with him when all he wanted to do was help, but Lydia just wished that people would leave her alone and stop acting like they knew what was happening in her head.

When the bell rang at the end of the day, Lydia hurried out of Ancient Runes and headed down to the kitchens where Dobby was already waiting for her with food for both her and Fabio. She thanked him again and rushed back to the common room. She sat in her usual seat by the window and began to make her way through her mountain of homework. Professor Snape had set them a particularly gruelling essay on non-verbal spells and Professor McGonagall had done the exact same thing.

When she wrote the final word of her transfiguration essay, Draco Malfoy stormed over to her, looking quite annoyed. Lydia groaned and rolled up her parchment, looking up at him and expecting the worst.

"Whatever my brother has done to you, I apologise, he's just a bit of a dick sometimes," Lydia said quickly, "and whatever Ron or Hermione have done to you, they are also dicks sometimes. It happens,"

"It's not him," he snapped, "We have perfect duty together and you're late for it,"

Lydia looked down at her watch. "Oh," she said softly, "I had no idea," she jumped up and followed him out of the common room preparing herself for what would probably be a quite stressful few hours. They had never had prefect duty together before, and Lydia was quite sure that they were about to find out the reason why.

Fabio crawled out of her pocket and up her arm, settling himself onto her shoulder and rolling around until he was wrapped up in her hair. Lydia had become so obsessed with her new pet that she had stopped putting her hair up just so he had somewhere to get comfortable. Malfoy watched in disgust.

"Do you have to take that thing with you everywhere?" He snapped as they made their way to the charms corridor.

"I don't have to, he just likes to sleep in my pocket," Lydia said, gently shrugging her shoulders so not to disturb him.

He rolled his eyes and they patrolled in silence for a while. The only sounds that reached them were that of the snoring portraits and the occasional squeak from Fabio. Lydia often found herself wishing that someone would be brave enough to break the rules just so they would have something to do.

"How are you finding Quidditch?" He asked suddenly.

"Um...fine," she answered truthfully, "it's not actually as bad as I thought it was going to be,"

"Have you told your brother?"

"No."

Malfoy sniggered.

"I'd love to see him fall on his perfect arse out of shock,"

Lydia stopped in her tracks.

"On his what?"

Malfoy turned bright red and his eyes were wide with shock. Lydia gaped at him out of shock.

"No, that's now what I- Potter, don't - I'm -" he stumbled over his words.

"Malfoy, are you ga-"

"Hi, Lydia," someone said behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder, "Oh, hi, Harry," she couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at Malfoy, "it's past curfew,"

"I know," he said, "I was just walking..."

"Have you not got better things to do?" Malfoy sneered, "or are you just hoping that if you walk around, someone will praise brave, noble Harry Potter?"

"Give it up, Malfoy," Lydia snapped.

"Ah, come on Potty-"

Harry pushed past Lydia and shoved Malfoy back against the wall. Lydia tried to grab Harry and pull him back, but he was a lot stronger than her.

"Want to say that again, pretty boy?" Harry snarled.

Lydia looked over at Malfoy who might have been smiling slightly. Harry seemed to be the only person who hadn't realised that he had said something strange.

"Piss off, Potter," Malfoy said, pushing him off him. He glared at them for a few moments more and then turned on his heel, marching away from them.

"You just called Malfoy pretty," Lydia said, slowly.

"I didn't mean - whatever," he snapped.

Lydia raised her eyebrows at him, "Why do you even care? He's called us Potty since-"

"I already feel mad enough, I don't need people telling me that I am!" he yelled, "and since you never want to talk to me about anything-"

"Oh, so this is my fault somehow?" Lydia snapped, "You're an absolute git sometimes, Harry,"

"And you're not?"

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Lydia said before she could stop herself.

Harry stared at her, "Are you fucking serious?" he groaned, "Oh my god, you are the most infuriating person when you want to be!" and he stormed away from her, leaving Lydia feel worse than she already did.

—-

September slowly wore on and the bags under Lydia's eyes only got deeper. Between prefect duty, Quidditch practice and all the homework she had to do, Lydia barely had time to sleep or even eat. Avoiding everyone became a lot more easier for the main reason that she didn't have time to do much but sit in the library or go to practice. She had also not spoken to Harry since they had had their argument and Lydia did not want to be the one to apologise for.

She had only spoken to James once or twice after she had stormed out of his office and neither of them had brought up the argument. He wasn't the only teacher who seemed worried about her either because Professor McGonagall held her back after one Transfiguration lesson. When Lydia walked up to her desk, she was met with a very stern look that Lydia usually associated with getting in trouble for something stupid.

"Have a biscuit, Potter,"

Lydia knew better than to try and argue with McGonagall, and took a biscuit from the tin that McGonagall was shaking at her.

"How are you finding school, Potter?" She asked.

"Fine, Professor. Yeah, no, I'm doing okay in everything," Lydia replied.

Professor McGonagall shuffled through all the paper on her desk and nodded.

"Well, you're doing more than 'okay' in Transfiguration," She said, "What about outside of class? I never see you at the Gryffindor table anymore. You have friends, don't you?"

Lydia felt as though she was eleven years old again. She had already had this friends conversation with Professor McGonagall back in her first year.

"Yes, Professor," Lydia said.

McGonagall regarded her for a moment.

"Forgive me for saying this, but I never see you with anyone anymore,"

"I'm just trying to deal with everything, Professor,"

"Well, there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon. Perhaps you would like to tell George Weasley about it. It would do you good to get out the castle,"

Another person who she had taken to avoiding was Draco Malfoy. He never turned up to their prefect duty together and made of point of not flying near her during Quidditch practice. Whenever she did see him, and she tried not to, he was always with Pansy Parkinson. Lydia had never thought that Draco liked Pansy as much as she liked him, and now she was quite sure of it. Still, that didn't stop him for laying his head on her lap and allowing her to play with his hair or sitting with his arm around her. It made Lydia feel slightly sick.

"Lyds!"

Lydia turned around on her way to the library as Harry jogged over to her, panting slightly. He held something out to her.

"This is a letter for you," He panted, "Hedwig delivered it to me but I think it's because she couldn't find you. It's off George,"

"Oh, cheers," Lydia said. He smiled at her quickly and began to walk away. "Wait - H!"

He turned back around. "Yeah?"

She was going to apologise to him and then invite him to meet her in Hogsmeade in October but something stopped her.

"Just...hope your Quidditch captaining is going alright..."

He furrowed his brows slightly.

"See you later,

Instead of going up to the library, Lydia made her way up to the owlery and opened George's letter:

 _Send me the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend and I'll meet you there._

Lydia fished around in her bag for a piece of parchment and a quill and scribbled back a reply:

 _October 12th. I'll meet you at the top of the path that goes to school at half past 12. Do try not to be late, it's already quite cold up here._

Hedwig hooted at her and landed in front of her. Lydia tied the note to her leg and carried her to the window, stroking her head.

"It's for George," she said.

Hedwig hooted at her again and then she was gone. Lydia watched her fly until she was out of sight. The door of the owlery banged open and she looked over her shoulder as Ginny and Luna walked in. As always, Luna looked as though she had walked in by accident.

"Hey, Lydia," Ginny said, calling an owl down. "Did you hear about Hannah Abbott's mum?"

Lydia shuddered involuntarily. Hannah's mother had been found dead with the Dark Mark hovering over her body. Hannah had been called out of Herbology to be told and hadn't been seen since.

"Yeah. I was in Herbology with her when they told her. It's awful, isn't it?"

"Terrible. But I feel like it's something we're going to have to get used to," she sighed but then brightened up, "but guess what? I'm one of the new chasers on the Gryffindor team!"

Lydia's heart skipped slightly. Ginny was a very good Quidditch player and Lydia didn't like her chances against her.

"That's amazing, Ginny!" Lydia said, "I've always thought you should be on the team,"

"You know the more you play Quidditch, the more Nargles you attract?" Luna said suddenly.

Lydia saw that as her cue to go back to the library.


	6. Hogsmeade

_**"I keep looking for a place to fit**_

 _ **Where I can speak my mind,"**_

 _ **-The Beach Boys**_

September bled into October in a blur of Quidditch, homework and Fabio developing an annoying habit of rolling around the common room. It was a relief when the twelfth of October finally rolled around and Lydia could go to Hogsmeade. She placed Fabio on her bed and gave him a very stern talking to.

"If I come back and you're not on this bed, I'm going to be really disappointed. Not angry. Disappointed,"

He squeaked at her in response.

She grabbed a jumper out of her trunk and hurried out of the dormitory. The common room was steadily beginning to empty, only first and second years remained with the odd seventh year who were taking advantage of the quiet common room to get some work done.

In the Entrance Hall, Mr Filch was taking a long time to let people out of the castle. Indeed, when Lydia finally made it to the front of the queue, he held her there for five minutes before deciding that she wasn't dangerous. Lydia still didn't understand why it mattered if people were taking things out of the castle. They should be more worried about the weird things people brought in.

George was waiting for her at the top of the path. As popular as ever, people stopped to talk to him as they made their way past him and it was a good half an hour until they could actually make their way into the village. There were a few people who had whole conversations with him until they realised that he wasn't even Fred.

"Three Broomsticks?" He asked.

"Yeah. I have some shopping I need to do as well. I've already ran out of parchment and ink," She sighed.

The Three Broomsticks was as packed as ever but they managed to find a table in the corner of the pub. George made his way over to the bar to order whilst Lydia pushed through the crowd to get to her seat. She glanced around the pub to see who was in; Daphne Greengrass was sat with a younger fourth year girl, who Lydia was sure was her sister, Astoria. Ginny and Dean were sat near them, kissing. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat a little way away and before they could spot her, Lydia moved to sit on the other side of the table so that her back would be to everyone.

"They need to have this pub as big as Hogwarts," George muttered as he sat down and handed her a tankard of Butterbeer, "it's honestly quite small considering how - are you all right?"

"Yeah,"

He frowned at her and then said, "I didn't know Ginny and Dean were together,"

"Neither did I, actually," Lydia said.

"You literally spend all your time in Gryffindor tower," said George, slowly, "Don't you?"

"Gryffindor tower is really loud," she lied, "I find it easier to work in the Slytherin common room. We're a lot quieter,"

He peered closer at her.

"You look terrible,"

"Wow. Thanks, Georgie,"

"No, that's not what I meant," He said quickly, "I mean, you look tired. And you've lost weight. Have you been sleeping? Or eating?"

"Obviously," Lydia said just as her stomach began to rumble loudly.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Lydia said, "honestly, George, I'm fine. I've just had a lot of work suddenly. You know what NEWT year is like,"

He opened his mouth to retaliate but someone clapped a hand onto her shoulder. She spilt butterbeer all down herself and looked up at Professor Slughorn. He was smiling jovially.

"Lydia Potter!" He beamed, "I can't believe it's October and we haven't met yet! Horace Slughorn, Potions Master!" He shook her hand and sat down next to her. George was staring at him open mouthed. "And we're both Slytherins, you know!"

"Nice to meet you, Professor," Lydia smiled.

"I was hoping I'd see you in my class, Lydia. I know you didn't get an E in your potions OWL but I was more than happy to take you on! You have the same spark that you're mother did or so I'm told,"

"You taught my mother?" Lydia asked, genuinely interested.

"Oh, yes," he said, nodding his head thoughtfully, "Lily Evans was a fantastic potion maker...such a lovely girl," he sighed and paused for a moment. "Anyway, I have a little get together every week...just a few selected students and I've been trying to get an invitation to you but no one can ever find you!" He laughed again, "there's one this Saturday at eight o'clock, you should come you know! Your brother will be there as will your friend Hermione Granger,"

"I do a lot of the prefect duties for Slytherin," she said, "it's hard to get away,"

Professor Slughorn smiled at her.

"You're so like your mother," he sighed, "Do try and get away, won't you?" He shook her hand and was off again.

"What a strange man," George said, frowning after him. "How come no one can ever find you? Aren't with Ron, Harry and Hermione?"

Lydia suddenly became interested in her Butterbeer. George's frown only depended.

"Lyds," He said, "you're spending time with them, aren't you? I know you were a bit distant this summer but-"

Tears suddenly sprung to her eyes. At once, George leapt up from his seat and sat next to her. He put his arm around and she buried her face in her hands, getting annoyed at herself for crying in public. She didn't even like crying in private, never mind for the entire pub to see.

"What's going on, Lydia? And don't lie to me," he added, "you're terrible at lying to me,"

"I hate everything," she said, "I hate school, I hate Quidditch, I hate prefect duties, I hate everyone around me. I'm not happy. I'm fed up of everything," It all came spilling out of her before she could stop it.

"Have you spoken to anyone?" George asked slowly.

"I don't have anyone to speak to," she sobbed, "it's like I've forgotten how to speak to my best friends,"

They sat in silence for a while. Dean and Ginny stopped kissing to look over at them. George glanced at his sister and gave a halfhearted shrug. Lydia looked over at Harry, Ron and Hermione but they weren't paying them any attention. She wasn't even sure they had noticed them. Daphne Greengrass looked torn between going over to her or minding her own business.

"I can't stop thinking about Sirius. I can't sleep because every time I close my eyes, I see him dying again and again and again ," Lydia muttered, "and then I see Voldemort and then I remember the sounds of parents dying and-" a small sob escaped her lips, "and I haven't spoken to Harry properly and I agreed to be on the Slytherin Quidditch team even though I hate them all,"

"You're going to play Quidditch?" He asked quietly.

"I like how that's what you took away from that,"

"I think it's a good thing." George said, "it means you'll have something to focus on. Something to distract you for a bit,"

"Yeah," She shrugged, "I just...I don't know how long I can take it. Everyone thinks I'm the 'chosen one' like Harry but I don't want to be. They expect me to be something I'm not and-"

"Have you spoken to Harry?" He asked.

"No,"

"Maybe you should start there,"

Lydia groaned and rested her head on her arms. George rubbed her back in a way that made her feel like she was melting.

"Here's what we'll do," George said, pulling her up. He wiped her eyes with the sleeve of his jumper. "We'll go shopping, I'll buy you some flowers because I'm going to become one of those boyfriends and if everything is still shit, you can always drop out of school and come and work with me and Fred,"

"Can Fabio come to?" Lydia asked, her voice thick with tears.

"Fabio can come wherever he wants,"

The rest of the day was a lot better. George wouldn't let Lydia buy anything with her own money and, true to his promise, bought her a bunch of everlasting Sunflowers ("they'll even survive in the ever depressing Slytherin common room," he promised) a quite fancy quill that she knew she would look obnoxious using but couldn't care less and a dress that she'd probably never wear. She managed to convince him to let her buy her own ink and parchment though he do so quite begrudgingly. By the time 5 o'clock rolled around and she realised she had to go back to the castle, she had forgotten how depressing her life truly was.

Bunch of sunflowers in one hand and all her shopping bags in the other, Lydia made her way back to Hogwarts. Just in front of her, Harry, Ron and Hermione were also walking back to school. Lydia trailed behind them slightly but froze in her tracks when she saw something quite distressing: Katie Bell had risen six feet into the air. Her arms held out and her face disturbingly blank. Her friend, Leeanne, was sobbing and clutching onto her ankles, trying to pull her down.

At once, Lydia ran towards Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry took off running down the path to find someone whilst Hermione hopped from one foot to the other, obviously trying to think of the best spell to sort Katie. If Lydia knew of such a spell, she could not think of it for her mind had gone blank in her panic.

Harry returned moments later followed by Hagrid just as Katie fell to the floor. At once, Hagrid picked up Katie and looked at the others.

"Don' touch that necklace!" Hagrid ordered, running up the path towards the castle.

Lydia rounded on the others.

"What happened?" She demanded

"I-I don't know," Leeanne sobbed, "she went to the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks and came back with that necklace. She said that she had to give it to Professor Dumbledore, no matter what."

Harry frowned at her.

"Did she say who gave it her?"

"No,"

Hermione put her arm around her.

"It's okay, Leeanne. We'll go up to school now. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to put her right,"

They hurried up to the school. Professor McGonagall and Snape were waiting for them in the Entrance Hall. Snape took out his wand and flicked it slightly. The necklace floated out of Harry's hands and into the air, rotating slightly.

"What happened?" McGonagall asked . She recounted the story again through sobs and Lydia somehow found herself more confused.

"Go up to Madam Pomfrey and ask for something for shock," McGonagall said kindly. When Leeane had left, she turned on Lydia and the others. "What did you see?" "I only saw her go in the air," Lydia said, "I was walking back to school and she just rose into the air,"

"Before that she and Leeanne were arguing about something. I think it was the necklace," Hermione said, "but she didn't say who gave it to her-"

"It was Draco Malfoy," Harry said quickly.

Hermione rolled her eyes, Ron looked in the opposite direction and Lydia almost dropped her flowers. Professor Snape fixed him with a hard cold stare and McGonagall's mouth went very thin.

"That's a very serious accusation, Potter," Professor McGonagall said.

"I know. But I really think it was him," he said firmly.

"Very well," McGonagall said, "You four better get going now,"

They didn't need telling twice. Lydia got a former grip on her bags and started in the direction of the dungeons, but Harry caught up to her and pulled her back whilst Ron and Hermione carried onto Gryffindor tower.

"Malfoy is a Death Eater," Harry said.

Lydia almost dropped her flowers again.

"What?"

"It makes sense," he said, "he went to Borgin and Burke's to buy that necklace. And he showed Borgin the Dark Mark, that's why he was so scared!"

"Don't be stupid, H." Lydia snapped, "he said it was a pair-"

"They could have two!" Harry said.

"He said one of them was broken-"

"Necklaces can break,"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "And can be fixed with a simple repairing spell. Whatever Malfoy was talking about was obviously more complicated or he wouldn't need help,"

"He's a Death Eater. I'm sure of it,"

"They don't just let anyone become a Death Eater, Harry. Especially not a sixteen year old school kid!"

"I'm telling you, he's replaced his dad!"

"And I'm telling you, you're being a dickhead," Lydia snapped.

"You know, I don't know what's gotten into you lately-"

"Why don't you talk to dad about it? That's all you ever seem to do,"

"Trouble in Potter paradise?" A cold voice drawled.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Harry snapped, "This isn't any of your business,"

"It is my business when you're blocking the way to my common room," Malfoy said, " _Pretty boy,"_

Lydia rolled her eyes at him and took an exaggerated step to the side to let him past. Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her.

"Piss off, Malfoy, I've had a bad day," Lydia said, "I'm not in the mood,"

He glanced down at the flowers in her hands and arched an eyebrow.

"I beg to differ,"

"I beg for you to shut up," He scoffed and shoved past her, waking into the dungeons.

Harry turned to look at her, a sympathetic look on his face.

"You've had a bad day?"

"Don't act like you suddenly care," She snarled.

Harry glared at her again. "Right, whatever, I'll see you later," and he stormed off.

Lydia resisted the urge to curse him and turned on her heel, walking back to the common room as tears pricked her eyes. She hated arguing with Harry more than anyone else in the world. There had been a time when they only had each other and would waste no time in confiding in each other. Now she didn't even know how to speak to him without snapping at him.

"Potter, we need to go over diversionary tactics because - Merlin, are you crying?" Urquhart faltered as he drew level with her in the common room

"I don't want to talk about it with you ," She said scathingly.

He raised his eyebrows.

"Right. Obviously. Um.." he handed her a sheaf of parchment, "just go over all this. It's diagrams and stuff of formations for the game."

She took them off him and shoved them in one of her bags. "Right, thanks, Urquhart,"

"Wait - you've not broken up with your boyfriend have you?" He asked, somewhat awkwardly.

Lydia frowned at him. "What? No!"

He relaxed. "Good. Don't want you distracted,"

Lydia stormed into the dormitories and found them deserted. She dropped her bags beside her bed and conjured up a vase, placing the sunflowers in them and allowing herself to admire them for a while. Amazingly, Fabio was still sat on her bed and that was enough to make her feel that perhaps the world wasn't so bad.

"Um, Lydia?"

Trying not to look as though she was ready to murder someone, Lydia turned around and came face to face with Daphne Greengrass and her younger sister, who was hovering awkwardly behind her.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I don't know if this weird or not, but Astoria is really struggling with her Defence Against the Dark Arts homework and Snape is well...Snape," Daphne said, "and you're the best at Defence so you couldn't help her, could you?"

"Oh," Lydia said, taken aback, "Yeah. Of course. I don't mind,"

Daphne beamed at her, "Thank-you!"

"We could go and get some food from the kitchens and do it when the common room is empty," Lydia said.

Lydia knew that Daphne was probably one doing this because she had seen Lydia crying in the Three Broomsticks and wanted to keep her company, but she appreciated it all the same.


	7. Gryffindor V Slytherin

**"Your siblings are the only people**

 **in the world who know what's it like**

 **to have been brought up the way you were,"**

 **-Betsy Cohen**

The first Quidditch match of the year was looming ever closer and Lydia hadn't been so nervous about something since the first Triwizard Tournament task. At least there would be no dragons on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Since Katie Bell has been cursed and was staying at St Mungo's, there had been a very late addition to the team: Dean Thomas. Urquhart hoped that his late addition would work in Slytherins favour, but Lydia didn't think so.

Somehow, none of the Gryffindor team had cottoned onto the fact that Lydia was on the team. Lydia would have thought that by this point, someone would have realised. Or maybe they just didn't care.

October sped up horrifyingly fast and when Lydia woke up on the day of the match, she was starting to wonder why on earth she had agreed to play. George had written to her the previous day to tell her that he wouldn't be able to get away from the shop to come and see her play. Secretly, she was quite happy about it - she didn't want him to see make a fool of herself.

"Who'd have thought that Potter knew how to play Quidditch," Zabini said in the changing rooms.

"Who'd have thought you could speak," Lydia said, "I think that's the most amount of words you've said in your life,"

"I knew it'd be a bad idea, having her on the team," Fredericks muttered. "All she's done since September is snap at us,"

"If you weren't such a nightmare, I probably wouldn't have to," Lydia snapped, adjusting her robes, "Merlin, you could have at least got a green that doesn't clash with my eyes so much,"

Lydia saw Malfoy roll his eyes at her in the mirror.

"Whatever," Urquhart said, "let's get going,"

Lydia picked up the Firebolt she had hurriedly bought second hand via the mail order form in the back of a broomstick magazine Urquhart had given her. She very quickly realised that she knew nothing about broomsticks and only ordered the Firebolt because of Harry.

They walked onto the pitch to raucous applause that was replaced by the sounds of gasps as people recognised Lydia. James, who was refereeing, tripped over his broomstick when he saw her. When the Gryffindor team walked onto the pitch, Lydia quite plainly heard Harry shout, "WHAT THE FUCK IS MY SISTER DOING?"

"Captains, shake hands," James ordered, still frowning at Lydia, "On my whistle. Three, two, one-"

Lydia kicked off the ground and the wind blew through her hair and robes. She veered to the right slightly as the first Bludger came her way and almost crashed into Harry who was staring at her incredulously.

"You never told me you were playing Quidditch!" He yelled.

"You never asked!"

She beamed at him and flew off, meeting Zabini half away across the pitch and catching the Quaffle. She flew underneath him and zig zagged out of the way of the Bludgers, Urquhart came up behind her and she reversed passed to him, shooting upwards and confusing one of the Gryffindor beaters who barrelled straight into Katie Bell.

In the end, Slytherin lost 360 - 350, with Lydia scoring the most. Malfoy threw his broom on the ground and stormed off the pitch but Urquhart hurried over to her when she landed. He was smiling ever so slightly.

"Not bad, Potter," He said, "Definitely could have scored that last one,"

"Excuse you, you scored none! It's not my fault Crabbe and Goyle are terrible beaters!"

Lydia left the changing rooms as quickly as possible. She had already had to pretend to be friends with the Slytherins for too long and it was starting to give her a headache. She strolled back up to the castle, her broom over her shoulder and wondering why on Earth it had taken her so long to start playing.

"Lydia! Lydia! LYDIA LILY POTTER!"

She jumped and turned around. Harry ran over her to her. He was still wearing his Quidditch robes and his face was bright red, telling her that he'd probably been running after her.

"Oh, hey, Harry."

He stopped in his tracks a few metres away from her.

"'Hey, Harry,' seriously? You just play the best game of Quidditch I've seen in ages and you're being casual about it?" He asked, gobsmacked. "Why didn't you tell me you tried out for the team?"

"I never tried out. Urquhart asked me to play," Lydia said.

"Wait...really?" He said, "Lydia...do you not think that this might be one of Slytherins sick plans to hurt you?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Not everything is a sick plan to hurt one of us, Harry,"

"Lydia! These are Slytherins we're talking about! You know what they're all like!"

"What we're "all" like? Wow, thanks Harry." Lydia snapped, "I guess I'll go and kill some Muggle-borns before I head down to the library because that's what we're all like,"

"I didn't mean it like that!" He said quickly, "I know you're not all like that! I just meant...this specific brand of Slytherin might want to hurt you and-"

"Fuck off, Harry,"

"What?" He yelled, "I don't know what has gotten into you-"

"I'm sorry for not believing your cracked up theory that everyone is trying to kill me but I'll remind you that the last time you thought someone was trying to kill someone close to you, it ended up being a lie and then he actually died," Lydia shouted before she could stop herself.

Harry jerked back from her as if she had hexed him and part of her wished that she had just hexed him.

"If you're talking about Sirius-" Harry shouted.

"Harry, no, wait, I-"

"It's not like I wanted him to die!" He yelled, "that wasn't part of the plan! I'm just looking out for you!"

"I don't need anyone looking out for me, Harry! I'm more than capable of getting by on my own! I'm not a child!" She screamed at him, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was on the Quidditch team, but I didn't realise that I had to share every single detail of my life with you!"

"Merlins beard, Lydia! I don't think you do but this is a big deal! I just thought you'd tell your brother of all people." He sounded slightly hurt and it made Lydia feel even worse than she already did. "Since the end of last term, I've been trying to speak to you but you just ignore me! It's like you've forgotten that I'm the only damn person in this school who had a vague idea of what it's like to be you!"

"NO YOU DON'T!" She screamed, "YOU HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE ME BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO BUSY BEING GRYFFINDOR'S GOLDEN BOY!"

"Miss Potter! What on earth are you- oh," Professor McGonagall was walking down the steps of the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall and faltered when she saw them stood apart and shouting at each other. "Are you two arguing?"

"No, Professor," Lydia said stiffly, "We're fine,"

"Kids! What are you-?" James had just wandered into the Entrance Hall.

"Speak to Harry about it," she said coldly, "since you're more than used to doing that," Lydia turned on her heel and attempted to march down to the dungeons but James grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Nope, not getting away from this one," he said, "Don't worry, Professor McGonagall, I can sort this one out,"

Back in James' office, Lydia sat on the couch furthest away from Harry, her arms folded tightly. James stood in the middle of them, looking between them. Harry was slouched back in one of the chairs, looking mutinous.

"You know, when I imagined sorting out a Slytherin and Gryffindor argument, I didn't think it would be because my two kids can't even talk to each other anymore," he said, a steely note in his voice, "after everything you two have been through, I really thought you wouldn't sink this low,"

"That's what I said!" Harry snapped.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "He thinks everyone is out to kill us and it's-"

"Understandable!" James said, "it's very understandable!"

"Oh yeah, take his side. That sounds about right," Lydia exclaimed, "I just want to be normal. I don't want to imagine that every person I meet is trying to do me in!"

"Lydia, have you ever thought that you might not be able to be normal?" Harry asked, his eyes flickering to the scar on her head, "one day, you might have to face Vol-"

"I've already told you, I'll off myself before he can," Lydia said coldly.

"That's not funny, Lyds," James snapped.

"I'm not joking," she said bluntly.

"Lydia, if you came to to these meetings with Dumbledore you'd realise how important they are!" Harry pleaded.

"They're important to you, Harry, they're not important to me,"

"Don't you want to do anything about it? Don't you want to avenge Cedric? Or Sirius? Or mum ?"

Lydia jumped up, tears in her eyes.

"Don't use them against me. That's not fair. Don't try and guilt trip me into following Dumbledore blindly. I'm done doing that," she said, her voice shaking. "If mum was alive, she'd probably want us to do everything we can to stay safe or have you forgotten she sacrificed herself for us?"

"If mum was alive we wouldn't have these scars on our heads and wouldn't have to worry about defeating him," Harry said calmly.

Lydia glanced at James who had started crying at the mention of Lily. She looked away and looked back at Harry who was still sat down but looked still looked ready to argue. Lydia was too tired to deal with any of this.

"If your way of avenging mums death is to try and kill the man who killed her, fine," Lydia said, "But I want to stay alive for her. She died for us, Harry, the last thing I want to do is die and make that sacrifice worthless,"

"Lydia, you and Harry living one more week would have been enough for your mother,"

"I'm starting to think it might have been enough for me," She snapped. With one last withering glare at the two of them, Lydia stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind her.

Tears threatened to spill over her cheeks but she furiously wiped her eyes as she arrived in the dungeons. She had already cried in the common room once before and she wasn't quite ready to do so again. The last thing she needed was people to think that she was unhinged, though she wasn't quite sure she wasn't at this point.

"Oi, Potter! Were you just arguing with your brot-"

Urquhart was stood in the entrance of the common room.

"Depulso," Lydia muttered, pointing her wand at Urquhart who fell backwards through the entrance of the common room.

"It's so annoying because I can't even throw her off the team..." she heard him mutter as she walked to her dormitory and slammed the door shut behind her.

Lydia lasted about half an hour in her dormitory. Parkinson seemed unable to shut up for an extended period of time and Lydia was already in a bad enough mood as it is. Muttering something about a prefect duty that she didn't have, she put Fabio on her shoulder and hurriedly left the room and let her legs carry her wherever they may please.

"You're an arsehole sometimes, you know that?"

Hermione had just shoved her in the shoulder. Lydia hadn't even noticed her come up to her.

"Good evening to you to, Hermione,"

"No - don't give me any of that crap," She snapped, "Harry came back to the common room in bits after the match and I heard Bulstrode and Parkinson talking about how you hexed Urquhart in the toilets before"

"And?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her.

"Seriously? You have a shouting match with your brother in the Entrance Hall, storm away from your dad and McGonagall and then hex your Quidditch Captain," She said, "And" she added, "you don't tell your best friends that you're on the Quidditch team!"

"Sorry, since when did I have to tell everyone every detail of my life?" Lydia snapped back, "Do you want me to catch you up now?"

"Lydia-"

"I woke up at half past 6, went to kitchens and got some food, then I went back to the common room and caught up on some work, got ready and then I played some Quidditch and-"

"Lydia!" Hermione yelled, "What is wrong with you? Ever since Sirius you've-"

"-Been grieving? How dare I!"

Hermione closed her eyes and seemed to pull herself together, breathing in deeply. Lydia was quite proud of herself. She very rarely won arguments with Hermione where her feelings were he source of the disagreement in he first place.

"Lydia, I know it's been hard for you, but it's also hard for Harry. If you spoke to him-"

"We'd start arguing again and I can't deal with that right now, Hermione."

"Fine. But dont think I'm going to start being the messenger between you and Harry because neither of you can grow up enough to speak to each other,"

"Fine. I don't expect you to, either."

They glared at each other for a moment and then Hermione burst into tears. Lydia jumped slightly.

"'Mione.." She said weakly, "I'm sorry if I upset you, I was just-"

"No, no," She sniffed, "its Ron..."

"Why? Is he OK?" Lydia asked hurriedly.

"Oh yes, he's fine ," Hermione said scathingly.

"Um.."

"He's currently somewhere kissing Lavender Brown," Hermione said, tears cascading over her cheeks.

At once, any ill will Lydia was feeling towards Hermione disappeared. She grabbed Hermione's hand and they went and sat in an empty classroom. Hermione leant back against one of the desks and shook her head.

"I really thought something was going to happen," she admitted.

Lydia nodded. Hermione had never explicitly told Lydia about her feelings for Ron but only an idiot wouldn't be able to pick up on it. Since their fourth year, something had been brewing between them and one of them always managed to mess it up. Ron seemed to have massively messed it up by snogging Lavender Brown.

"Slughorn's Christmas party is coming up, you know." Hermione said thickly through tears, "and even though we never really said it, we were actually going with each other," she rubbed her eyes, "and then he goes and does this..."

"Honestly, Hermione, he's stupid to not go with you. You're gorgeous!" Lydia picked Fabio up of her shoulder and handed him to Hermione. "He'll make you feel better..."

"You're only saying that because you're my best friend,"

"I'm saying that even though I'm your best friend," Lydia countered, "You have great hair, your skin always looks like it's glowing, you're kind and funny and really smart," Lydia smiled at her, "Lavender is lovely, but she's no Hermione Granger,"

Hermione sighed and rested her head on Lydia's shoulder.

"I've missed you," Hermione said.

"I know. I've missed you,"

"Promise to be around more?"

Lydia hesistated.

"Promise,"

"I feel like Fabio is the only decent male in this castle," Hermione said, stroking him.

"Sign of the times," Lydia muttered.

—

Lydia woke up on Monday morning determined to be a better friend than she had been. Though she still wasn't ready to put her pride aside to speak to Harry, she was going to suck it up and stand by Hermione. Still not ready to face the Great Hall and Harry or James, Lydia got food from the kitchens and stood outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, waiting for Hermione.

Harry came out first. There was a tense moment in which they stood and stared at each other, as if daring the other to speak but then gutted and walked away. Ron and Lavender followed them, holding hands in a way that made Lydia want to throw up on them. Finally, Hermione came out looking quite murderous.

"I got some breakfast," Lydia said, holding up the stack of toast she was holding.

"Thank-you," Hermione said gratefully.

The walked the long way round to Ancient Runes and Lydia let Hermione complain about Ron and Lavender. Apparently, Lavender hadn't shut up about him all week and had gone out of her way to kiss him in front of her. Lydia said that she's probably grow out of it and it was just a weird phase at the start of relationships.

"You and George were never like that when you first started going out," Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah but that was because I was too worried about the Triwizard Tournament than snogging my boyfriend at every opportunity," Lydia pointed out, "and also because I hate couples that do that," she added.

They arrived outside of Ancient Runes ten minutes before the bell was due to ring. The only other person there was Daphne Greengrass who seemed to have been able to escape the clutches of Pansy Parkinson. She was sat cross legged on the floor reading a book and smiled at them both when they arrived.

"Hello, Lydia, Hermione," she said.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and didn't say anything. Lydia smiled at her and said hello back.

"You're a really good Quidditch player, Lydia," Daphne said, "I didn't know you could play so well,"

"Thanks, Daphne," Lydia smiled, "it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be,"

"Oh, by the way, I got a letter off Weasley's Wizard Wheezes telling me to pick up my Pygmy Puff at Christmas. Thanks for writing and asking them to put one aside for me,"

"No problem," Lydia said, "I sent a letter to George when they had bred a new batch. I told him to get a pink one but jury's out on whether he read the letter properly or not,"

The bell rang and they hurried into the classroom. Lydia and Hermione took their usual seats at the front of class and pulled everything out of their bags.

"Since when were you and Daphne Greengrass friends?" Hermione whispered to her.

"I'm not replacing you, if that's what you're worried about," Lydia whispered back.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I didn't think you liked any of the Slytherin girls,"

"I don't but Daphne's nice. She's grown up a lot since first year. I actually heard her have a go at Davis the other day for bullying a third year,"

"I'm glad you have someone on your team in that common room,"

Professor Babbling came into the room and they fell silent. Lydia felt a lot lighter than she had done in days.


	8. Slughorn's Christmas Party

**"We are products of our past,**

 **but we don't have to be prisoners of it,"**

 **\- Rick Warren**

Lydia was not not only avoiding her brother, but Professor Slughorn. Invitations to his little get togethers kept on being delivered to her and she had managed to ignore every single one. Whenever she saw him coming down the corridor, she'd force herself to blend in with a crowd of first years or jumpe sideways into a bathroom, regardless of whether they were male or female.

And in the week leading up to the Christmas holidays when Lydia was queued up outside Transfiguration, he came down the corridor and there was no where to hide. She tried to casually slip behind Neville and Dean, but Professor Slughorn had already spotted her.

"Lydia! You still haven't come to the Slug Club!" he said, sounding too cheerful for a Wednesday morning, "you must come to this next one! It's a Christmas party!"

"Professor, I-"

"I'll be delighted to see you," he continued, talking as though he hadn't heard her, "and get that charming Mr Weasley to come with you! I want to hear all about that shop he runs with his brother! Miss Granger, you'll be coming too, won't you?"

Hermione nodded, "Oh yes, we both will, won't we, Lydia?"

And Lydia had no choice but to plaster a smile onto her face and nod along.

Slughorn beamed at the two of them before becoming distracted by Harry who was rescued by McGonagall calling them into the room. Lydia snatched her bag of the floor and hurried in. She and Hermione took their seats behind Harry and Ron, and Lydia couldn't help but glare at the back of her brothers head - she couldn't understand why she was being so childish, but she wasn't going to stop it any time soon.

"Today, we are starting human Transfiguration," McGonagall said. There was a murmur of interest and Lydia suddenly wondered if there was a chance she would be able to cover up her scar for good.

McGonagall began to explain the theory behind the spell they were attempting (Crinus Muto) and Lydia hurriedly began to make notes, her hand whizzing over the parchment. When she glanced up at the board to make sure she was spelling a word correctly, Harry stretched his arms above his head and the sleeve of his robe fell down, revealing the bracelet that she had bought him for his birthday. A pang of guilt overtook her for a moment when she remembered that they weren't talking because she was being an idiot. No, she said to herself, you're not talking because you're both being idiots. This fact did not make her feel any better and so she pushed all her feelings down, loaded her quill with ink again and caught up on her notes.

Seamus walked around the classroom and handed out mirrors; they would be attempting to change the colour of their eyebrows. Subconsciously, Lydia rubbed hers and began to worry about the possibility that she might not be able to change them back for Slughorn's Christmas party before stopping herself - was she even going?

The lesson that followed was actually quite fun. Neville managed to make his eyebrows so long they covered his eyes, Dean changed his whole head of hair pink and, much to Hermione's amusement, Lavender Brown cursed her eyebrows off and seemed unable to grow them again. Lydia was only trying to get her eyebrows a shade or two lighter but they were stubbornly black. After fifteen minutes, Hermione managed to change her eyebrows to blonde and received 10 points for Gryffindor.

Two minutes before the lesson ended, Ron yelled and almost fell backwards off his chair for he had managed to give himself a handlebar moustache. Hermione laughed scathingly but once McGonagall had gotten rid of his moustache, he retaliated by doing a cruel impression of her in class: jumping up and down with his hand in the air and sticking his teeth out.

Hermione burst into tears and ran out of the room with her face in her hands as Parvati and Lavender laughed on. Harry hit Ron around the back of the head and grabbed everything that Hermione had left on her desk before hurrying after her.

"You're a bit of a git sometimes, you know that?" Lydia snapped at Ron.

"She laughed at my moustache!" He said indignantly

"It looked stupid," Lydia said, "everyone laughed at your moustache,"

"It's not my fault she's got her wand in a twist about me and Lavender!"

Lydia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "You said you were going to Slughorn's party with her," she pointed out, "you can imagine why she's ever so slightly pissed off with you,"

When Lavender wandered over to them, Lydia quickly left the room and found Harry and Hermione halfway down the corridor. Hermione still seemed to be crying.

"He's a git," Lydia said firmly.

"He is," Harry agreed, handing her her pencil case.

Hermione nodded. "I've got an extra Arithmancy class. I'll see you later," and she hurried off down the corridor.

There was a moment in which Lydia and Harry had been unified in making Hermione feel better, but it quickly evaporated and they both just stood staring at each other. Lydia pretended to look for something in her bag, hoping that something would happen to break the silence.

"Are you going to Slughorn's Christmas party?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Yeah. Are you?" Lydia asked, finally looking up for her bag.

He nodded. "Is George coming?"

"Don't know yet. I'll probably floo him later and ask. Or write to him."

He nodded again.

"You know, one of your eyebrows is yellow," Lydia said, pointing.

"Ah," He said, "I'll get Hermione to put it right,"

"Or just leave it," She shrugged, "you could make a statement,"

He snorted and then fell into silence again before he said, "I better go. I've got loads of stuff to do for Sprout," and he left Lydia stood alone in the corridor, wondering what on earth she was going to do with her free period.

She hoisted her bag further up her shoulder and began to walk to the library. Maybe she would start the Transfiguration homework that McGonagall had just set her or go and ask Professor Babbling about that rune that had popped up in one of her books that she'd never see before. Or maybe she'd go and have a nap.

"Lydia, can I speak to you?" James was walking through the Entrance Hall followed by a group of first years clutching the school brooms.

"Aren't you busy?" Lydia asked, pointing at the first years.

"Walk with me, then. You haven't got a class, have you?"

Lydia shook her head and followed her dad out onto the Quidditch pitch. She hung back slightly as he gave them instructions to do laps (carefully) around the pitch. Once they were up and flying, he walked over to her wearing an expression that told her she was about to be lectured on something.

"What?"

"You put your name down to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas," said James.

Lydia blinked. "Oh. I didn't realise. It's a bit of a habit,"

"You're not staying here on your own," He said, "we're spending it at The Burrow,"

"OK,"

"As a family,"

"Right,"

"No arguments,"

"Got it,"

—-

Lydia secretly wanted George to say that he wouldn't be able to make it to Slughorn's Christmas party because at least then she would have an excuse to not go. But he had very quickly sent her an owl back to let her know that Fred would be able to look after the shop for a while.

So, on the evening of December 20th, Lydia plonked herself in front of her mirror and smeared some make up on her face. It wasn't very good, but she was past caring about something as trivial as makeup.

All in all, the finished product was quite good, she thought. She had put the dress on that George had bought her in Hogsmeade and it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it was going to be; it was made of a floaty light blue material and fell to her calves. She dug around in her trunk and found the shoes that she had worn to the Yule Ball in fourth year and took a moment to allow herself to be amazed that she had never thought to take them out of her trunk.

"You don't look as good as you think you do," Pansy Parkinson said from where she was sat on her bed.

"No," Lydia agreed, "I probably look better,"

Before an argument could start, Lydia quickly left the dormitory and hurried up to the Entrance Hall to meet George. She felt quite self conscious stood in her dress robes whilst others milled around in their normal robes, casting her funny looks. Eventually, George appeared wearing black dress robes and looking around at Hogwarts with a smile.

"I've missed this place," he sighed, "you look beautiful,"

"I'm freezing," she said, "whoever made this dress didn't think about winter,"

"Probably because you're meant to wear it in summer,"

"Who made you a fashion expert?"

"I've always been one, you've just never noticed,"

"Yeah, yeah..."

Professor Slughorn's office was quite possibly the biggest office that she had ever been in. It must have been magically enhanced because Lydia couldn't understand how he had managed to fit all these people in. Lydia recognised some of them and was quite sure that the captain of the Holyhead Harpies was stood on the other side of the room talking to Slughorn. Lydia tried not to stare too much because she knew how annoying it was.

Hermione ran over to them, looking quite panic stricken and kept on looking over her shoulder as if she was being followed.

"What's up with you?" George asked.

"I left Cormac under the mistletoe," she whispered, shuddering.

Lydia gaped at her.

"You invited Cormac Mclaggen?"

"I was trying to make Ron jealous!" She hissed back, "I should have just come on my own- oh here he comes, tell him I'm in the bathroom!" And she hurried off again.

"Have you seen Hermione?" Cormac asked, looking around.

"Who?" George asked.

"Hermione. Hermione Granger,"

Lydia placed a hand on Cormacs arm and gave him a sad look. "Cormac, Hermione has been dead for three years. Move on,"

"Living in the past isn't good for you, mate," George said, clapping him on the back.

Cormac gave them both strange looks and barged past them. Once he was out of earshot, they burst out laughing and watched as he wandered around the room, trying to find Hermione. James came over to them with an apprehensive look on his face.

"Do I want to know why you two are laughing?"

"We just told Cormac Mclaggen that Hermione died," George explained.

"Why?"

"It's funny," Lydia shrugged, "she's actually only gone to the toilet,"

James gave them a strange look. "That's the kind of thing me and Sirius would have done,"

"Our next step is to actually kill Hermione and make it more realistic," George said.

"Or at least make her leave Hogwarts for a while," Lydia added.

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of Luna. She was wearing a layered silver dress that made her look almost like a Christmas tree. Once you got over the initial shock of the dress, it was actually quite nice looking. Her hair looked a lot less scraggly than usual and the absence of her radish earrings made a big difference.

"Hello Luna," Lydia said, "I didn't know you were coming today,"

"Harry invited me. We're here as friends," Luna said.

The fact that Luna added the fact that they were there as friends on told Lydia that Harry had been quite explicit in explaining this to her. Harry appeared behind her holding two drinks and looking quite sheepish, followed by Hermione who was still looking over her shoulder.

"I thought you were dead, Hermione," James said seriously.

"What?"

"There's a biographer over there who's dying to write a book about us," Harry told Lydia, "watch out,"

"Can't be worse than Rita Skeeter," George muttered.

"You're still bitter because she got you and Fred mixed up in that article she wrote about the Yule Ball," Lydia said.

"Mum thought you and Fred were going out for about three weeks!" He said, "Then she thought you were going out with both of us at the same time!"

"That's what it feels like sometimes," Lydia muttered but only so that Hermione could hear who giggled into her bottle of Butterbeer. "Oh, here we go-" she sighed as Slughorn made his way over to them.

He grabbed Harry and Lydia and pulled them next to him in front of a photographer who Lydia hadn't noticed before. She forced a smile onto her face whilst he took a picture and she tried to get away but then Slughorn grabbed James and pulled him into frame.

"Who'd have thought we'd ever have you all together!" Slughorn said happily, "A fine family, the Potters!" He beamed at them all again but got distracted when saw George and starting questioning him about the shop.

James glowered at the back of Slughorn's head. "He never liked me when I was at school,"

"Yeah but you were just James Potter back at school, weren't you?" Lydia said, "now you're back from the dead James Potter. Much more interesting,"

"I've always been interesting!"

"And you married his favourite student," Harry said, "honestly, he never shuts up about mum,"

"She was very good at potions, your mum," James said, "very helpful to poor Remus who struggled to stand a cauldron the right way up,"

"That's something I can relate to," Lydia sighed.

"I doubt your mum would have cheated during her potions lessons," Hermione said in a tetchy sort of voice.

James raised his eyebrows. "Cheated?" He glanced at Harry, "you're cheating?"

"No!" Harry said, shooting a furious glare at Hermione, "I just have a book that someone's scribbled instructions in that make my potions a lot better than Hermiones!"

"Whose book was it?" Lydia asked.

"It says it belonged to the Half-Blood Prince," Hermione said. She looked at James, "I was wondering if you had any idea who that could be. The books dated back to when you were in school,"

James looked thoughtful for a mment. "It's not mine - I'm pure blood and the only nickname I ever had was Prongs...Sirius was pure blood..."

"What about Remus?" Harry asked.

"He is Half-blood but we never called him the Half-blood prince. Sirius always had weird nicknames for him but that's just because he was one of those annoying boyfriends and-"

"Boyfriend?" Harry yelped.

Everyone turned to stare at Harry.

"Yes," Lydia said slowly, "Sirius was gay...and his boyfriend was Remus..."

"Did you not know?" James asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Harry was steadily turning red. "N-no. No one told me,"

"Merlin, you're oblivious to everything!" Hermione said.

After this, Lydia could tell that Harry was in a strange mood and began to avoid him. She felt as though this would be one of those days where if she said something wrong, the conversation would dissolve into a massive argument again. Instead, she and George found a corner to sit in and watched the party unfold. Lydia's favourite moment had to be Hermione purposely stuffing her face with pieces of chocolate because Cormac had cornered her under the mistletoe.

"Does Ron actually realise he likes Hermione or what?" George asked.

"I think he realises, he just has no idea how to actually deal with it," Lydia said, "It's been obvious to everyone but him since fourth year and he just doesn't know how to deal with it,"

"Give them time..." he said, sighing and putting his arm around her, "are you feeling better now?"

Lydia dropped her head on to his shoulder and shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted, "part of me feels fine and I can just go about my daily life normally but then every now and then I just get this paralysing feeling of sadness and I can't move,"

"You need to speak to Harry,"

"I can't!" She protested, "we had a massive argument after the Quidditch match and we've barely spoken,"

"Yeah, I thought things were weird between you. But seriously, speak to him." George said firmly, "I don't know what it's like to be a Child Who Lived,"

Lydia made a face, "I hate that name,"

"I know, but that is how everyone knows you,"

"I'm coming to The Burrow for Christmas, anyway," Lydia told him, "I'll speak to him then,"

George looked down at her.

"Well, I'm probably going to have to get you a Christmas present then, am I?"

"Probably," she grinned, "I just...I don't think I've ever realised how shit of a life I've had until I've been so lonely that I've actually had to think about it and-"

There was a scuffle at the door and Lydia and George both jumped up, wands in their hands. The door opened and Mr Filch came in, dragging Draco Malfoy behind him. Lydia shoved her wand back in the belt of her dress.

"Found this one trying to gatecrash," Mr Filch snarled, "said he was invited,"

"Alright, I wasn't invited!" Malfoy yelled, yanking himself out of Filch's grip.

"No matter, no matter.." Slughorn said, waving a hand airily, "it is Christmas after all, there's no need for punishment.."

"I will be the judge of that," said Snape, stepping out from the shadows. Lydia hadn't even noticed that he was there, "Mr Malfoy is in my house, after all - come,"

Malfoy glared at Snape but followed him out of the room nevertheless. Lydia then watched as Harry slipped away from James, Hermione and Luna and followed them out. George noticed too because he nudged Lydia and pointed at him just as he disappeared out of the door.

"Do you think we should follow him?"

"No," Lydia said firmly, "I told you, I'm done with all that crap. I'm just going to sit down and pretend that my brother isn't following two of his least favourite people through a deserted castle,"

And that's what she did. For the rest of the night, she and George retreated to their corner and talked about everything that wasn't Harry. When midnight approached and the party ended, they walked back to the Entrance Hall hand in hand.

"Oh - wait!" George said, he flicked his wand and mistletoe started to grow over their heads.

"You do this every Christmas," Lydia said.

"Are you complaining?" He asked, leaning closer.

"Never said I was mad about it, it was just an observation,"


	9. Christmas at The Burrow

_**"If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?"**_

 _ **\- Lin-Manuel Miranda**_

"So he was offering to help him?" Ron asked.

"If you ask that question one more time, I'm going to stick this sprout-"

Lydia rolled her eyes and pulled her Transfiguration book closer to her. Harry was still convinced that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater and it was all that Lydia could do to not snap at him. Before they had arrived at The Burrow, James had pulled Lydia aside and made her promise not to start an argument. She felt as though him only telling her not to start an argument was downright rude, but didn't mention it because she felt as though that would probably start an argument.

Harry and Ron were stood at the kitchen peeling a mountain of sprouts for Mrs Weasley whilst Lydia tried to finish a particularly horrible essay for Professor McGonagall. They had been talking about what Harry had heard Malfoy and Snape at Slughorn's Christmas Party. He had told them both on the school train what he had heard and Lydia had had to distract herself with homework to not start shouting at him again.

"I'm only checking!" Ron said, casting a wary look at the sprout that Harry was holding.

"He said he'd promised Malfoy's mum to protect him and that he'd made an Unbreakable Oath...'

"An Unbreakable Vow?" Lydia yelped, looking up from her homework, "Are you sure?"

Harry looked around at her in surprise. "Yeah...why?"

"You can't break an Unbreakable Vow," Ron said slowly.

"Funnily enough, I'd worked that out for myself," Harry said through gritted teeth, "What happens if you break it?"

"You die," Lydia said bluntly.

Ron nodded.

"Fred and George tried to get me to make one once when I was five. I nearly did, too, but then Dad found us and he went mental. Fred reckons his left buttock has never been the same since,"

"Yeah, well, passing over Fred's left buttock..."

"I beg your pardon?" Said Fred's voice as the twins entered the kitchen. "Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything,"

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months time!" Said Ron, "And then I'll be able to do it by magic!"

"At least you're not like Harry and Lydia and have to wait until the end of July," Fred said.

"Honestly, Fred, we have bigger things to worry about," Harry muttered.

"I'm sure Ron will dazzle us all with unsuspected magical skills," Fred said, clapping his brother on the back.

"And speaking of unsuspected skills, Ronald," said George, dropping into the chair next to Lydia and putting his feet on the table, "I have heard, from an unnamed source, that you and a certain lady of the name of Lavender Brown are quite close,"

Ron turned around and looked at Lydia, "You told him?"

"He said unnamed source!" Lydia protested.

"I'm not saying that this source doesn't have messy black hair and green eyes, but I'm also not saying that they don't," George shrugged.

Ron looked between Harry and Lydia, both of whom were trying to look as innocent as possible. Lydia smiled at him and turned back to her homework whilst Harry became interested in the sprouts again.

"Mind your business," Ron snapped.

"What a snappy retort," said Fred, "I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was...how did it happen?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Did she have an accident or something?"

"What?"

"Well, how did she sustain such extensive brain damage? Careful, now!"

Mrs Weasley entered the room just in time to see Ron throw a knife at Fred. He turned it into a paper aeroplane with one lazy flick of his wand. George sniggered as a furious Mrs Weasley rounded on him.

"Ron! Don't ever let me see you throwing knives again!" She said. Then she turned to Lydia, "Oh, Lydia, dear, Fabio is currently rolling around in the living room - will he be OK?"

"Oh, yes, he'll be fine, Mrs Weasley. He's a bit weird like that," Lydia shrugged.

"Fred, George, I'm sorry, dears, but Remus is arriving tonight, so Bill we have to squeeze in with you two," said Mrs Weasley, "And James can stay with him,"

"No problem," said George.

"Charlie won't be home so Harry and Ron are in the attic, and Fleur can stay with Ginny," Mrs Weasley said, "Everyone should be comfortable," she looked around the kitchen, looking harassed, "And Lydia you can stay in Percy's old room,"

"Percy not showing his ugly face, then?" Fred asked.

Mrs Weasley turned away. "No, he's busy, I expect,"

"Yeah, being the world's biggest prat," Fred muttered as Mrs Weasley left the room. He stretched and good up, "Well, I'm off. There's a very pretty girl who works in the paper shop who thinks my card tricks are something marvellous...almost like real magic..." He winked at them and left the kitchen.

"Oi, George, can you help us with these sprouts?"

"No," George said, "It's character building. Also," he added, throwing the paper aeroplane at him, "I wouldn't chuck knives at people who you want to help you - Lyds, you spelt 'additionally' wrong, it doesn't have four 'd's' in it,"

"Are you sure?" Lydia asked.

"I think you're cracking under pressure," George said.

"No such thing," Lydia said briskly, "That's just what people say when they don't want to do work...how are we spelling the world 'and'? Is it two N's or one? Both look right to me,"

In the end, George had to force her parchment out of her hands and managed to convince her to not do anymore homework until after Christmas. Once she stopped stressing out over homework, she actually managed to enjoy herself. Ginny had decorated the living room so lavishly that it almost hurt to look out because of how bright the decorations actually were. Fred and George had confided in Lydia, Harry, Ron and James that the Angel on top of the tree wasn't actually an angel, but a gnome that had been stupefied, painted gold and stuffed into a miniature tutu.

"It's honestly quite ugly," Lydia said, looking up at it as it glowered down on them.

"It's his own fault for biting me on the ankle," Fred muttered darkly, "It bloody hurt,"

Lydia yawned and sank back into her seat. Fabio was dozing on George's lap whilst he played chess with Ron. Ginny and Fred were playing Exploding Snap whilst James looked on, occasionally he purposely messed them up just for the satisfaction of seeing something explode. Harry was sat in deep conversation with Mr Weasley and Lupin who was looking thinner than ever. From what James had said, he had been given the task of going underground and trying to get the other Werewolves onto their side by Dumbledore and it wasn't going on.

"I'm going to get a drink - do you want anything?" Lydia asked George.

George shook his head. "Nah, I'm alright,"

As she neared the kitchen, she could hear the sound of sniffling. She paused outside the kitchen door, not wanting to interrupt but then her curiosity got the better of her. Slowly, she pushed the door open and peered inside. Harry was sat on the kitchen table, wiping his eyes furiously as tears poured out of them.

"H! What's wrong?" Lydia asked, rushing into the kitchen.

"What do you care?" He snapped.

Lydia took a step back. "Right. Sorry. I'll just-"

"No! Wait. I'm sorry there's just...a lot," He sighed.

She hesitantly walked over to him and sat next to him.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't want to ruin Christmas,"

"You won't ruin Christmas,"

"I might,"

"Harry."

"Yes?"

"Don't be a prat,"

He let out a shaky breath and jumped down from the table, pacing up and down the kitchen. Lydia watched him pace and realised how hypocritical she was being - she hadn't told Harry anything about what was happening in her life and now she was expecting him to tell her something that was obviously deeply personal. She waited until he was ready.

"I don't want - I mean - Cho was - didn't work out - but still - girls are - blokes are - confused - I mean - I was confused - not now - don't - but -" He stumbled over his words and he looked quite frantic.

"H, chill," said Lydia, "Take your time,"

He stopped pacing and leant against the sink. For a moment, she thought he was going to be sick but then he turned around to face her.

"You're my sister," he said, "you're always going to be there for me, right?"

"What? Bloody hell, Harry, obviously I am!" She said, frowning. "You're starting to worry me. What's wrong?"

"I'm bisexual," he basically whispered it, "And if you hate me, that's fine. I know it's weird and-" he was cut off as Lydia hugged him. He froze for a moment before he hugged her back and they were both sobbing.

"I'm sorry," Lydia said, "I'm sorry I've been such a prat since June. I'm sorry I've ignored you no not spoken to you and said horrible things to you and-"

"Lyds," He whispered, "it doesn't matter. We've both been stupid. We've both said things we shouldn't have,"

"I will support you through everything and anything," Lydia promised him, "Through every relationship. Regardless of who it is with," Harry burst into tears again and hugged her again. The door opened and George walked in.

"Babe, have you - oh," he stood still for a moment, "do you want me to-"

"No, no it's fine." Harry said, wiping his eyes. "We just needed to talk,"

"Understatement of the century," George muttered, "So, are we all friends again?"

Harry nodded. "Will you get my dad?"

George smiled at Lydia and left the room when James came in. He stood and stared at his children for a moment as though he couldn't work out if the fact that they were both sobbing was a good thing or not.

"What's happened?" He asked.

"I need to tell you something," Harry said, he straightened his back and cleared his throat. "I'm bisexual," when he said it this time, he was a lot more confident.

James nodded, "I know, kid,"

"I - what?"

"I'm your dad. I know these things," when he saw the look on Harry's face, he pretended to look shocked. "I mean...oh my Merlin! I had no idea! None whatsoever! You have been so subtle about the whole thing!"

"I don't want anyone else to know yet, though," he added seriously, "I don't know how everyone will react.." He trailed off and looked worried again.

Lydia rested her head on his shoulder. "Take things as slowly as you won't. We won't rush you,"

—-

Lydia's bedroom door creaked open and she rolled over, expecting to find Ginny trying to find solace from Fleur, but it was George. He put a finger to his lips and slowly closed the door behind him, creeping over to the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting in bed," He whispered, "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Trying to get us killed by either your mum or my dad,"

"There's so many redheads in the house, mum won't notice if I'm in my room or not," George said. When he saw the look on her face, he pulled the quilt up to his chin. "Look at how comfy I am,"

She rolled her eyes and lay back in bed, turning to face him. He grinned at her.

"Are you and Harry OK now?" He asked

Lydia nodded. "Finally."

"I'm glad," he said, "it means I can stop worrying about you,"

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm always fine," she paused for a moment, "well, I'm fine like twenty percent of the time and that's more than enough,"

"That's not how it works,"

Amazingly, Lydia and George were never found out. When Mrs Weasley came to wake her up that morning, George was clever - and sneaky - enough to have pretended to have woke her up first and even opened the bedroom door so that poor Mrs Weasley didn't have to worry about teenage pregnancy. Ginny came in moments later, ranting and raging about Fleur, followed by a laughing Harry and Fred and a rather put out Ron who was holding something in his hands.

"What the hell is that?" Lydia asked, pointing at what he was holding.

"It's off Lavender...she can't...she can't expect me to wear it, can she?"

It was a golden chain with the words, 'my sweetheart,' attached to it in big bold letters. Tears streamed down Harry and Fred's faces as they fell to the ground, still laughing. Ginny gave Ron what might have been a sympathetic look if it weren't for the fact that tears of laughter were rolling down her own face.

"Wait till Hermione see's that," George muttered to Lydia.

"If he'd have just gone to that Christmas party together, he wouldn't be in this mess,"

"Wouldn't be nearly as amusing though, would it?"

Christmas dinner was cheerful. Mrs Weasley, as always, cooked a feast to rival that of the Hogwarts Christmas food. Lydia cheerfully ate her way through the mountain of food that was put before her and listened into the conversations that took place around her. Remus and Bill were discussing Goblin rights whilst Fred and George were in fits of laughter over a story that James was telling ("-and then, Moony goes, "oh no, I read the spell wrong," and then Sirius came running back over to us but he wasn't Sirius because he'd transfigured himself into a Hippogriff and not Snape!"). Mrs Weasley was talking to Harry about his NEWTs ("honestly, dear, if you just buckle down you'll be absolutely fine,") and Ginny was teasing Ron about his necklace ("I think you should wear it first day back to school. There's no way people will bully you about it!").

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley said suddenly, "Arthur! It's Percy!"

Mr Weasley looked round. Everybody very quickly turned to look out the window. Mrs Weasley was right - Percy Weasley was walking across the snowy yard. Even stranger, he was not alone for the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour,

was walking next to him.

"Arthur! He's with the Minister!" Though no one needed telling.

There was a painful silence as the back door opened and Percy stood in the doorway. No one looked at each other. Them, rather stiffly, Percy said, "Merry Christmas, Mother," Mrs Weasley burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

"Apologies for the intrusion," Rufus Scrimgeour said, pausing in the doorway, "But Percy and I were in the vicinity and he was quite insistent that we dropped in on you all,"

Lydia glanced at Percy and couldn't help but think that this couldn't be further from the truth. He was stood very straight, as though he wasn't in his own home, and there was a muscle twitching in his jaw. Mrs Weasley beamed at him but Fred, George and Mr Weasley maintained a stony face as they looked at him.

"We won't be here long, Molly," Scrimgeour said, "I'll have a stroll around the yard whilst ou catch up...well, if anyone would like to show me round your charming garden...ah, what about these two, here? They seemed to have finished," He pointed at Lydia and Harry who glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. No one bought this for Lydia still had some food left on her plate and George, Ginny and Ron had also finished their plates of food.

"Sit down," Lydia hissed at George who had half risen out of his seat.

"It's fine," Harry said to Lupin and James who had also stood up. "Fine," he added to Mr Weasley who had moved towards the door.

Neither of them were fooled. There was no way that Percy had actually wanted to come and see his family. Scrimgeour was just using him as a cover so that he could speak to Lydia and Harry alone. They walked across the yard towards the Weasley's garden. Lydia looked at the floor and tried not to focus on how cold she was.

"I've been wanting to talk to you both for a very long time," Scrimgeour said after a while, "Did you know that?"

"No," said Harry.

"Dumbledore has been very protective of the two of you. Natural, of course, after what you've been through...especially at the Ministry,"

Harry didn't say anything and neither did Lydia, so he carried on. "I have been hoping for an occasion to speak you ever since I gained office, but Dumbledore has prevented this,"

Still, neither of them said anything.

"The rumours have flown around!" Scrimgeour said, "Well, of course, we both know how these stories get distorted...all these whispers of a prophecy...of you being the "Chosen Ones"..."

Lydia pulled the sleeves of her jumper over her hands. They were getting close to what Scrimgeour had really wanted to say to them.

"...I assume you have discussed with Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, we've discussed it," Harry said. Lydia didn't say anything.

"Have you, have you..." Scrimgeour said, "And what has Dumbledore told you?"

"Sorry, but that's between us,"

Scrimgeour turned to Lydia, "Have you discussed anything with Dumbledore?"

"We once discussed whether or not a vanishing spell would work on Lord Voldemort," Lydia said lightly.

Scrimgeour frowned at her.

"Of course, it is a question of confidence...but, does it really matter whether you are the Chosen Ones or not?"

"I don't really know what you mean, Minister," Harry said.

"Well, of course, you two it will matter enormously. But to the wizarding community at large, it's all perception, isn't it? It's what people believe that's important,"

Lydia didn't say anything and instead became very distracted by two gnomes that were having a fight.

"People do believe that you are the Chosen Ones. They think you both heroes - and there's no denying that you are, of course. How many time have you faced He Who Must Not Be Named and survived? It's a good morale booster, you see. And I can't help but feel that, once you realise this, you might want to publicly stand alongside the Ministry,"

"So basically, you'd like to give the impression that we're working for the Ministry?" Lydia asked.

"It would give everyone a lift to see that you were more involved,"

"I think we've been involved more than enough, actually," Lydia said coldly.

"It would give everyone a lift," Scrimgeour persisted.

"But if we keep on running in and out of the Ministry, it will look like we agree with what you're doing," Harry said.

"Well, that is what we would like-"

"But we don't agree with what you're doing," Lydia interrupted.

"You're only sixteen, I wouldn't expect you to understand-"

"Dumbledore's a lot older than sixteen and doesn't agree with anything you're doing," Harry said, "Like locking up Stan Shunpike, for example,"

"I see," Scrimgeour said, all warmth disappearing for his voice, "So, like your hero Dumbledore, you would like to distance yourself from the Ministry?"

"Can you blame us?" Harry asked scathingly, "After everything that happened last year?"

Lydia held her fist up to him, the words 'I must not tell lies,' shined white in the sun. Scrimgeour fixed her a cold, hard stare.

"Where were you last year when then Ministry were going out of there way to discredit us? Where were you when Dolores Umbridge forced us to carve these words into our own flesh? What were you doing, Minister?" Lydia asked.

"Some would say it is your duty to stand by the Ministry," Scrimgeour said.

"Our duty to be used?" Harry said, "That's what you'd love, isn't it? Just to have the Chosen Ones working for you! You don't really care about anything else!"

"What is Dumbledore up to, when he's absent from Hogwarts?" Scrimgeour asked suddenly.

"No idea," Harry said, "But I wouldn't try and find out. Fudge tried to interfere at Hogwarts and you'll notice that Fudge isn't Minister anymore, but Dumbledore is still Headmaster. I'd leave him alone, if I were you,"

There was a long pause.

"Well, it is clear that he has done a good job on you. You're Dumbledore's man through and through, aren't you, Potter?"

"Yeah, I am," Harry said, "Glad we straightened that out,"

"What about you?" Scrimgeour asked Lydia.

"I stand by my brother, Minister, through anything."

And turning their backs on the Minister for Magic, they strode back to the house.


	10. Chasing the Lion

_**"Alone we can do so little,**_

 _ **together we can do so much,"**_

 _ **\- Helen Keller**_

Lydia and Harry sat on the stone steps of the Entrance Hall, wrapped up in their cloaks and scarves. He was pouring over that potions book. Lydia glanced at it and frowned. There was something weirdly familiar about that handwriting but she couldn't quite work out why. She decided not to spend her time worrying about it - it hadn't hurt anyone and she was sure that Hermione would figure out who it used to belong to before long.

"All the Weasleys have great hair," Lydia said, as Ginny walked past with Dean.

"What?" Harry asked.

"All the Weasleys have great hair. Have you noticed?"

"No..."

"Next time you see Ron, look at his hair." Lydia told him, "It might just change your life,"

"Are you trying to set me up with Ron?"

"No!" She said quickly, "I'm just saying..." She glanced at her brother, "but you're single, right? If you're looking for someone with great hair-"

"I'm not going to go out with a Weasley!"

"You say that like its a bad thing - also, there's more than enough to go around," she added, "I mean sure, Bill and Fleur are going to get married and Percy probably wouldn't even want to look at you-"

"I'm also quite sure he's straight,"

"There's always Charlie or Fred," she said, "Although, it might be a weird if you went out with Fred because George-"

"Also quite sure Fred is straight and Charlie would sooner marry a dragon than a human," Harry pointed out, "It's a bit sad, really, isn't it? I'm bisexual and single. There's twice the amount of people for me!"

Lydia sniggered.

"What about Oliver Wood? I always thought he was two Quidditch matches away from marrying you," Lydia said, "Also, all the jokes you could make..."

"Jokes?"

"Morning, Wood!" There was a moments silence in which Harry was working out the joke before he burst into laughter

"You stole that joke off George, didn't you?"

"Every funny thing I say is a joke I stole off George," Lydia admitted, "But don't tell anyone. Everyone thinks I'm really funny,"

"No, they don't - oh, here we go,"

Lydia looked up as Draco Malfoy popped out from behind the pillar. She frowned at him - had he been listening to their entire conversation? The look of horror on Harry's face told her that he was worried about the exact same thing.

"Got Quidditch practice tonight, remember, Potty?" Malfoy said to her, a sneer creeping up onto his face.

"Yes, Malfoy, I do," She said stiffly.

"Seems like you've both stopped arguing...guess the Wizarding World can relax now," He continued.

Harry glared at him, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know. Bye," And he sauntered off.

"Do you think that emphasis on the word 'Bye," meant something? Does he know?" Harry asked her.

"He wouldn't say anything," Lydia said quickly, "He knows not to. No one trusts him anymore because of his dad,"

"Yeah...maybe,"

"Oi! Lydia!"

She spotted Ron on the other side of the corridor. He shoved a fourth year out of the way and almost tripped up trying to getting her. He put on such a spectacle of trying to get from one side of the corridor to the other, that she couldn't help but stop and stare.

"Aren't you going to be late for potions?"

He glanced at his watch and shrugged.

"I never wanted to take it in the first place, anyway," he sighed, "Anyway, Dumbledore wants to speak to you-"

"Why?"

"I don't know. McGonagall told me to find you and tell you. He wants to speak to you now. She also said that he likes acid pops,"

Lydia groaned. "Like now now?"

"Actually about ten minutes ago but I got lost on the way to Arithmancy. I didn't know it was in this part of the castle,"

"You've been here six ye-oh never mind. I'll see you later,"

Lydia turned back around and walked to Dumbledore's office. The stone gargoyle that guarded her office seemed to glare down at her. She actually stood and glared back at it for a while until she remember that it was an inanimate object.

"Acid pops,"

It jumped to life and Lydia hurried on it as it rose up to the Headmasters office. Lydia knocked on the door once and it swung open. Dumbledore was sat behind his desk, resting his chin on fingers in deep thought. Lydia lingered awkwardly by the door and tried to catch his eye, but he seemed quite unaware that she was stood in front of him.

"Um, Professor?"

His eyes flickered up to meet hers and he smiled.

"Welcome, Lydia. Do sit down," He gestured to the chair, "How are you? I hope I've not pulled you away from something important,"

"Oh, no, Professor. I had an extra Ancient Runes class but it's fine, I'll tell Professor Babbling where I was,"

"I feel that I haven't really seen anything of you this year. I never see you in the Great Hall,"

"I take a lot of classes, Professor," Lydia shrugged, "It's hard to balance by time between work, Quidditch and prefect duties, but I think I'm doing OK,"

Dumbledore nodded.

"You are a fantastic Quidditch player, Lydia. Why did it take so long for you to try out?"

Lydia shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I never thought about it and it was always Harry's thing, anyway,"

"And you and Harry, are you still close?" Dumbledore asked slowly.

"Yes, Professor. More than ever,"

"There is something I would like to discuss with you...a matter of great importance,"

Dumbledore said, "I understand why you said what you said last year, but I am curious to know if your position has changed at all? I do not know what you have discussed with Harry, but our private lessons are more important than ever,"

"My position has not changed," Lydia said, bluntly.

"It is of the utmost importance-"

"Not to me,"

Dumbledore regarded her for a moment and then nodded, "Very well, Lydia, but I must ask...why?"

"Why don't I want to go after a man who wants to kill me?" Lydia asked, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, "Gosh, why on earth would I want to avoid someone who wiped out my entire family?" she felt as though she might have been being slightly rude, but she couldn't bring herself to care enough to apologise.

"I just find it curious," Dumbledore said, lightly. "Harry is more than willing to-"

"I'm not my brother,"

Lydia expected to get reprimanded for interrupting him but he completely disregarded.

"No," he said, softly, "of course you're not. Now, another question - what is it that you want to do when you leave Hogwarts, Lydia?"

"Um, I don't know," she answered truthfully.

"I thought it was your wish to be an Auror?" He persisted, "That is what you told Professor Snape during your careers meeting last year,"

She shrugged, "Not anymore,"

"You would be a terrific addition to the Aurors,"

"I would be terrific at many things but that doesn't mean I should do them,"

He chuckled slightly, "That is true," he smiled at her, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I have not seen enough of you this year. If you ever need to talk to me, you know where I am,"

"Thank-you, Professor,"

"Enjoy the rest of your school year, Lydia,"

Slytherin were set to play Hufflepuff that weekend and Lydia was much more excited about this match than the last. For one thing, she was actually talking to Harry, Ron and Hermione again and they had put their Gryffindor pride aside to support Slytherin. Lydia almost burst into tears when Lydia walked into the Great Hall on Saturday morning and found the three of them with Slytherin colours painted onto their cheeks and wearing Slytherin scarves. Neville and Luna were also wearing Slytherin colours.

Even better, George had also been able to get away from work to come and see her play. He surprised her just before she walked into the changing rooms, prompting Malfoy to roll his eyes and Zabini to nearly curse them both.

"Good luck," he said, winking. "Fred's saved me a seat in the stands," he kissed her and walked away.

"If you get distracted by your boyfriend and lose this game, I'm going to be really pissed off," Urquhart muttered darkly.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "If we lose, it'll be your fault. You're the Captain,"

They walked out onto the pitch to raucous cheers. Lydia looked up at the stands and her heart skipped a beat for she could quite distinctly see Professor Dumbledore sat next to Professor Slughorn. As far as Lydia could remember, the last time Dumbledore had come to a Quidditch match was during the final match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw when Gryffindor had won the cup for the first time in years. She felt as though the conversation they had had in his office that week might have been the reason for him attending.

James blew his whistle and they kicked off the ground. Lydia veered out of the way as one of the Hufflepuff Beaters hit a Bludger towards her. Urquhart chucked the Quaffle towards her and she caught it, zooming off down the pitch. Zabini caught up towards her and she reversed passed to him quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the Hufflepuff Beaters didn't realise that she didn't have the Quaffle anymore and focused all their attention on her - allowing Zabini to score.

Hufflepuff were back in possession and Lydia intercepted one of their passes. She shot off down the pitch, weaving in and out of players. The Hufflepuff keeper drew closer and the Quaffle soared through the middle hoop.

"Nice one, Potter!" Urquhart yelled as she flew past him.

She glanced over at the stands and she could see George jumping up an down and clapping. For the second time that day, she could have started crying out of sheer happiness.

From then on, the game carried on in Slytherins favour and it was the best game the team had had in awhile. They won 250-50 and Malfoy actually carried off a quite spectacular catch. Even Lydia felt the need to go over to him and congratulate him as they landed on the ground. Though instead of thanking her, he just told her to piss off.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Luna and Neville were waiting outside the changing room for her and all burst into applause when she came out. James hurried over to her and hugged her, shouting about how proud he was of her. She felt herself go bright red and the rest of the team rolled their eyes when they came out after her. Though, there was quite a tense moment in which Malfoy and Harry stood staring at each other before Malfoy swore at them all and stormed off.

"Weirdo," Fred muttered, "What's his problem?"

"Many, many things," Ron said, watching him go, but then he brightened and turned to Lydia, "But that was an amazing match! You're third goal actually made me cry a bit," he hugged her but they were torn apart by a horrified scream; Lavender was stood just feet away from them, staring at the two of them.

"RON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She yelled.

"Wait! Lavender! No! She's just my friend! It's not-"

"HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF I JUST HUGGED SEAMUS?"

"Can I just point out that my boyfriend is stood there and he's-" but Lydia's words were drowned out by Lavender bursting into tears and running off. She glanced at Ron who hung his head, "Sorry, mate, I tried.."

George clapped him on the back, "Would it make you feel better if I started crying?"

"No, fuck off," and he ran after Lavender.

Hermione looked thrilled.

Fred and George had to leave to go back to the shop. When Lydia walked back up to the castle, she felt a lot happier than she had in awhile. She almost felt like she did in fourth year before her and Harry's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. It was almost as if she didn't have a care in the world - for the first time, perhaps ever, she felt like a normal teenager.

"I feel like I haven't seen you all year," Neville said, falling into step with her.

"I know," she sighed, "it's been a weird couple of months, Nev,"

He nodded, "I know, I know," He shrugged, "But we've got to keep fighting, haven't we?"

Lydia frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged again.

"I don't know, it's something I've been thinking about a lot ever since the Ministry. Ever since I saw Bellatrix Lestrange and she said all those things about my parents...I knew I had to keep on fighting, for my parents, you know?" He said, "They fought for me and now I'm gonna do the same thing for them. When you and Harry started the DA, I kind of knew that we'd have to fight and what happened at the Ministry just solidified that fo me,"

"You know, you're completely different to the Neville I met in first year,"

"You say that like you're not completely different to the Lydia I met in first year,"

"Remember when you were scared of me?"

"Everyone was scared of you,"

They arrived in the Entrance Hall and Lydia, who had a lot of work to do, went back to her dormitory, picked up her work and made her way up to the library. Suddenly, someone grabbed the back of her robes and pulled her backwards, shoving her behind one of the tapestries that concealed a secret passageway. Panicked, Lydia plunged her hand into her robes and took her wand out, pointing it blindly.

"Oh, get over yourself, I'm not going to curse you,"

"Malfoy?" Lydia said in disbelief, "What in the name of Merlin are you doing?"

"You never told me your brother was into blokes,"

"My brother is -what?" Lydia said quickly, "I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy,"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't play stupid, Potter, I heard you talking about it!"

"Why should I have told you about it, anyway?" She snapped, "I wasn't aware it was any of your business,"

"Because you know I like him!" He hissed at her.

"Yeah, I do know that, but I also know that he doesn't like you!" She snapped, "You've been a dickhead since first year!"

"I know, but I'm trying!" He said, "I...there's a lot going on...I don't know how..."

"I can't help you with that," she snapped and she shoved past him, "but maybe you could start by trying to be a good person!"

"Potter - wait!"

"No, Malfoy! Seriously, you've been a dick to us and our friends since first year! Think about all those horrible things you said about the Weasleys! And that god awful song you wrote about Ron last year!"

He looked offended for a moment but then he stormed off. It was only when she finally sat down in the library and she opened her Charms book that she realised how ill Malfoy was looking these days. She suddenly felt quite bad for the way she had treated him but then remembered how much of a dick he was and shoved him from her mind.


	11. A Bad Birthday

_**"Abuse is never contained to a present moment,**_

 _ **it lingers across a person's lifetime**_

 _ **and has pervasive long - term ramifications,"**_

 _ **\- Lorraine Nilon**_

Lydia was sat in her usual seat in the Slytherin common room. It was Ron's Birthday and she was trying to get some work done before she went to find him to give him his present before Lavender took over for the day. Fabio rolled around on her lap whilst she filled in a number chart for Arithmancy that she was quite sure she was doing wrong. In fact, when she looked back over it, she had definitely gotten most of it wrong.

Daphne Greengrass wandered over to her, looking quite troubled. "Uh...Lydia?"

"Mhmm?"

"Hermione Granger is stood outside the common room. She's crying and is refusing to talk to anyone but you,"

"Crying?" Lydia asked.

"Quite a lot, actually,"

"Watch my stuff!" Lydia said, scooping Fabio up and running out of the common room.

Hermione was pacing up and down outside, wringing her hands together. She looked quite frantic and Lydis almost didn't want to go and speak to her in case she snapped and tried to curse her.

"'Mione? What's going on?" Lydia asked hesitantly.

"It's Ron! He's been poisoned!"

"He's been what?" Lydia asked, flabbergasted.

"Poisoned! By Professor Slughorn! That's what Harry said anyway," She took a deep breath, "Professor Slughorn gave him some wine that was laced with poison and now he's in the hospital wing,"

"Is he OK?" Lydia asked.

"Madam Pomfrey is with him," she lurched forward and grabbed her hand, pulling her up to the Hospital Wing where Harry and Ginny were waiting.

"What time is it?" Lydia asked.

"Twelve O'Clock. I think we'll be here for a while," Harry sighed, he slid down the wall.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Madam Pomfrey finally allowed them in. The hospital wing was quiet and Ron's was the only bed that was occupied. At ten past eight, Fred and George arrived.

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred said.

"And it's his seventeenth and everything," Lydia sighed, looking at him.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," said George grimly, putting a gift on the bedside table.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," said Fred.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him," said George, "Lydia even made time in her 'feeling sorry for herself' schedule to get him up there without Lavender,"

"There were Dungbombs involved. It was going to be amazing," Lydia added. She glanced at her watch, "but, hey, still got time to feel sorry for myself,"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked, looking up.

"Yeah, we were thinking of buying Zonko's," said Fred, "We thought we'd extend the business but there's no point now if you lot aren't allowed at the weekends," He sighed, "Probably great for Lydia though, it means she doesn't have to see George all the time,"

"Shut up," George said.

Fred drew up a chair beside Harry. "So, how exactly did it happen?"

Harry retold the story again. Lydia could tell that he was getting fed up of telling it over and over again, but she found it very interesting - why on earth did Professor Slughorn have a bottle of wine with poison in it?

"They reckon he'll be alright though," Harry said, "Madam Pomfrey says he'll have to stay here for a week or so and keep taking Essence of Rue,"

"Blimey, it's lucky you thought of a bezoar," said George in a low voice.

"Lucky there was one in the room," Harry muttered.

Lydia shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if Harry had been unable to find one. Next to her, Hermione gave a little sniff. Lydia sighed and held her hand. Hermione had been exceptionally quiet all day and Lydia knew why - she was feeling guilty about the fact that Ron had been poisoned when they weren't speaking. They had put on a united front for Lydia during the Hufflepuff and Slytherin game, but since then he and Hermione hadn't been talking. If the worst were to happen, Lydia wasn't sure that Hermione would ever be able to forgive herself.

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked Ginny.

"They've already seen him, they were here like an hour ago. They're with Dumbledore now, I think,"

There was a pause while they all watched as Ron mumbled a little bit in his sleep.

"So the poison was in the drink?" said Fred quietly.

"Yes," said Harry at once, "Slughorn poured it out-"

"Do you think there was a chance Slughorn could have slipped something in the drink?"

"Probably," said Harry, "but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"No idea," said Fred, frowning, "You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?"

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" asked Ginny.

"I dunno," said Fred, "but there must be loads of people who want to poison these two, right?" He pointed at Lydia and Harry.

"I can think of one person who would definitely like to kill us but he's not very good at it," Lydia muttered, "Been trying his best since we were one,"

"So you think Slughorn is a Death Eater?" Asked Ginny.

"Any things possible," Fred said darkly.

"He could be under the Imperius Curse..." George said.

"Or he could be innocent," Lydia said, "The poison could have been for him,"

"Who'd want to kill Slughorn?" George asked.

"Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side," said Harry, "He was in hiding last year. Maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way because he could be valuable to Dumbledore,"

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny reminded him, "So the poisoner could have been after Dumbledore,"

"Well, the poisoner obviously didn't know Slughorn very well," said Hermione, speaking for the first time in hours and sounding as though she had a bad head-cold, "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd have kept something that tasty for himself,"

"Maybe it's just one of life's unanswered questions. Kind of like who's everyone's favourite Weasley is," Fred said.

"Mines Errol," Harry said at once.

"Mines your mums second cousin who's an accountant," Lydia said thoughtfully.

"Er-my-nee," croaked Ron, taking them all by surprise.

They all fell silent and watched him anxiously. He muttered incomprehensibly for a moment for a moment he began to snore. The dormitory doors flew open, making them all jump and Hagrid came striding towards them.

"Bin in the forest all day!" He panted, "Professor Sprout jus' told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"He's fine," Lydia assured him, "Madam Pomfrey says he'll be OK,"

"I don' believe this," said Hagrid hoarsely, "Jus' don' believe it...look at him lyin' there...who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

"We don't know," George said, "That's what we've been trying to work out,"

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" Hagrid asked anxiously. Everyone turned to look at Lydia.

"Not everything is Slytherins fault!" She said, " Also," she added furiously, "when I was asked to be a part of the Slytherin Quidditch team, I threatened to snap everyone's brooms if they tried anything against you lot and I cursed Urquhart after the first match of the season because he said something vaguely mean about Harry,"

Harry looked touched and Fred looked mildly impressed. "I think you just like excuses to threaten people,"

"Probably," Lydia admitted.

"Still, Katie was also attacked...and they're both on the Gryffindor team. They could have gone behind your back," Ginny pointed out. She took Fabio in her hands and began to stroke him, "I mean, you're not exactly the best of friends with the Slytherins, are you?"

"They won't have done," Lydia said confidently, "Because the first time I threatened Urquhart he actually squealed - do you know how hard it is to make a 6'2 seventh year squeal?"

'I don't think it's Quidditch, but there is a connection between the attacks," Hermione said quietly.

"How'd you work that one out?" Fred asked.

"Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seemed to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed,"

Before anyone could answer, the doors opened again and Mr and Mrs Weasley hurried up the ward. Mrs Weasley hugged Harry and thanked him for saving so many members of the Weasley family.

"Oh, Harry...first Ginny, then Arthur and now Ron!" She sobbed, "What would we do without you?"

"I'm waiting for Harry to be my Knight in shining armour," Fred sighed, fluttering his eyelashes at Harry and resting his head on his shoulder.

Lydia gave Harry a very knowing look and mouthed, 'Great hair,". Harry rolled his eyes and mouthed, "fuck off," back. George gave them both a funny look but didn't say anything. Lydia felt that she might get asked awkward questions later but would manage to worm herself out of it, as always.

Madam Pomfrey came back into the dormitory and told them that they were only allowed to have six visitors at a time. At once, Harry, Lydia and Hermione rose from their seats and bid goodbye to the others. Hagrid came with them too, still shaking his head and muttering about who on earth would want to kill Ron. Lydia couldn't help but think the same thing.

"It's terrible," he growled, "All this security an' kids are gettin' hurt still...Dumbledore's really worried, yer know,"

"Doesn't he have any idea?" Lydia asked anxiously.

"I 'spect he's got hundreds of ideas, brain like his," said Hagrid, "but he doesn' know who sent that necklace or the poison in the wine. Wha' worries me..." Hagrid said, lowering his voice, "is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' Secrets all over again, isn't it? Board o' governors'll be talkin' about shutting us up again,"

They reached the Entrance Hall and Lydia waved goodbye to them, walking down to the dungeons, her mind racing. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going and bumped into Professor Snape.

"It's almost midnight, Potter," he snarled, "What are you still doing out of bed?"

"Sorry, Professor, but it's because of Ron. He's in the Hospital Wing," she quickly explained.

"Well, be on your way, Potter or I shall put you in detention,"

Lydia was quite thankful to get back to the common room. She dropped back into the seat she had been before she had left. It took her a moment to realise that Daphne was still there and all her work had been untouched. Lydia jerked up, almost knocking Fabio off her lap.

"You're still here," she said stupidly.

Daphne yawned and nodded. "Yeah, it gave me a reason to not go to Hogsmeade with Pansy. Also I got a lot of work done - is everything OK? I heard someone say something about Professor Slughorn poisoning Ron Weasley,"

"Accidentally poisoning Ron Weasley. I don't think he did it on purpose," Lydia said, "he's not the best potions maker but he's not so bad that he'd poison him - anyway, I'm going to bed. I'll see you later, Daphne. Night."

—-

Lydia ran through down the corridor, she was late to watch the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff match. She hadn't even had time to paint her cheeks with Gryffindor colours and felt terrible about it. She jumped down the last steps of the marble staircase and ran through the Entrance Hall, hoping a teacher wouldn't shout at her to stop running.

Someone grabbed the back of her jumper and shoved her into a broom cupboard. Her back hit the wall too quickly and the breath rushed out of her lungs. She looked around and realised how small the cupboard was. Too small, in fact. Suddenly, she was eight years old again and Uncle Vernon was shoving her in the cupboard for asking a question about her maths homework.

In her panic, she lashed out and her fist found contact with someone's nose. Someone yelled out and they toppled backwards out of the cupboard. There was confusion for a moment, and then Lydia came to the horrific realisation that she was straddling Draco Malfoy. The stared at each other in silence for a moment and then the both screamed. Malfoy hit her in the side and she toppled off him. She scrambled up, her wand drawn and he had done the same.

"What was that for?" He bellowed.

"You can't just shove someone in a broomstick cupboard!" She yelled.

"I didn't shove you," he snapped.

"It might not have seemed like it but when you've lived in a cupboard under the the stairs-"

"When you've lived where?" He asked, lowering his wand.

"You know what? Just fuck off Malfoy! I don't need to tell you about my depressing childhood!" She said, shoving her wand back in her jeans, "I don't even need to talk to you! I don't know why I've been so nice to you this year but I'm sick of it! Just fuck off!"

She barged past him, furiously wiping her eyes. She hated crying in front of people, and Draco Malfoy was no exception to that rule. Knowing that it would be deserted except for Madam Prince, Lydia ran into the library and headed for the most secluded corner at the back. Her heart was still racing and she had to remind herself how big the library actually was.

That was not the first time a small space had brought on a panic attack. It happened more often than she would like to admit. The first time it had happened was during third year when Professor Lupin had put together the most extravagant final exam ever and Lydia had faced the Boggart in the cabinet at the end. At first, she had thought that it had been defeated by the people who had gone before her, but then the walls started closing in on her and she only just managed to cast Riddikulus. She had burst out the other end, gasping and shivering the despite the sun shining bright above them.

"Lydia!" Lupin asked, running forward, "you did it! What's wrong?"

"Small space!" She gasped, "I couldn't - I couldn't - I thought I was back in the cupboard,"

The most embarrassing time it had happened was when -mid snog - Lydia had realised how small the cupboard she and George were in was and she actually screamed in his face. He had then screamed in her face and she was so embarrassed by the entire thing that she avoided him for a week before breaking down in front of him and apologising for something that wasn't her fault.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She said when he found her on the edge of the lake, "it's just embarrassing!"

"It's not embarrassing-"

"Have you ever had a panic attack halfway through kissing someone?"

"Well, no, but that doesn't make it embarrassing!"

Lydia groaned and put her face in her hands, shaking her head. George reached out and gently moved her hands from her face.

"Tell me," he said gently.

"The Dursley's made me and Harry sleep in the cupboard under the stairs when we were younger," she said, unable to meet his eyes, "And now whenever I'm tight spaces..."

"Oh, Lydia," He whispered, "you should have said!" He moved closer to her and hugged her, "why've you never mentioned it before?"

"It's a hard thing to bring up..." she muttered.

"Ah, well, don't worry about it - I'm sure we'll manage to find somewhere else to kiss," He said, "there's a really big tree over there that we could definitely hide behind..."

Still, having a panic attack in front of Draco Malfoy was probably more embarrassing than having a panic attack in front of the Dark Lord himself. At least it'd be over quicker for the simple fact that he'd probably kill her as soon as possible.

She picked up the first book she found and opened it at a random page so that when Madam Pince came prowling, she wouldn't throw her out. As she pretended to read, she thought that, perhaps, she should look into having therapy. But then she remembered that that would mean opening up to someone who she barely knew and quickly squashed the idea. Maybe she'd just write to George...

"Miss Potter?" Madam Pince walked over to her, "Madam Pomfrey just sent me a note...your brother has been injured in the Quidditch match," When Lydia pulled herself off the floor, Pince quickly held her hand up. "You'll have to wait to see him tomorrow, though. He's still unconscious and seeing him would be a waste of your time. She said you can go tomorrow at half past twelve,"

At half past twelve the next day, Lydia ran to the Hospital Wing and burst through the doors, but she wasn't the only visitor. Dobby and Kreacher the House Elves were stood next to Harry's bed. Lydia froze at the foot of Harry's bed, staring at him.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Oh, hi, I'm getting Dobby and Kreacher to tail Draco Malfoy," He said like this was the most normal thing in the world.

"Why?"

"He's obsessed with him!" Ron said from the bed next to him, "all he ever talks about!"

Lydia frowned at Harry.

"I think he's a Death Eater and I'm determined to prove it!" Harry snapped, he turned back to the House Elves, "stick to him like a couple of wart plasters," the two elves bowed deeply and disappeared.

"Seriously?" She said, "you're still convinced he's a Death Eater?"

"So convinced that he was almost late to the Quidditch match yesterday!" Ron said. He glanced at Harry who was glaring at him, "sorry - just catching her up,"

"You can't deny there's something strange about him! And I keep on catching him staring at me!"

Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Why do you always insist on finding at at least one plan to murder you every year?"

"I don't insist on finding a murder plan, there just usually is one!" Harry said, "even you can't deny that! And Dumbledore always says-"

"I really don't care what Dumbledore says," Lydia snapped.

"If you came to these meetings-"

"I'd be in an even worse mood than I already am," she said.

"And that's the last thing we need," Harry muttered.

"Oh, whatever, Harry, I'm going to find Hermione. See you later," and she stormed out of the Hospital Wing.

As she thundered down the corridor, she walked past James who's smile dropped off his face when he saw the look on Lydia's.

"Don't tell me you've been arguing again," he said, a warning tone in his voice.

"Talk to him about it. I have a headache,"

"So does Harry, he has a cracked skull," James pointed out.

"Yes, well, I've had a long week. I'm going to nap," and she walked off, feeling worse and worse.


	12. The Tie Incident

_**"Do people always fall in love with things they can't have?"**_

 _ **"Always,"**_

 _ **-Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt.**_

During her time as Slytherin prefect, Lydia had come across very strange things; people crying, people duelling, people snogging, cats mating and owls fighting were just some of the strange things a prefect was bound to come across. None of these things were ever nice sights or anything Lydia liked to find at midnight when she herself was tired and wanted to be curled up in bed, but they were always unavoidable.

The strangest thing that she came across was Ginny Weasley sat in a stairwell near the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, crying. Lydia heard the sounds of sobbing from halfway down the corridor and, just because she was so nosy, she followed the sound up into the stairwell and froze. If she had found anyone else crying, she probably would have sat next to them and asked them what was wrong, but this time it was different because Ginny Weasley never cried. Lydia was quite sure that in all the time she had known her, she had only seen her cry once at that was in the Chamber of Secrets. For the first time in her life, Lydia wished that she was back in the Chamber of Secrets because at least then she would be distracted by the great big snake trying to kill her.

"Ginny?" Lydia said hesitantly, "Uh..what are you doing? I hate to be that person but...it's past curfew,"

Ginny looked up at her and wiped her eyes.

"When have you ever cared about being up past curfew?"

"Well, I'm a prefect. These are things I care about,"

"When have you cared about being a prefect?"

Lydia stared at her.

"Good point," she said. She was silent for a moment and then said, "Why are you crying? What's wrong?" Lydia carefully sat on a step a few steps below the one that Ginny was sat.

Just as Ginny opened her mouth to speak, they heard footsteps drawing closer and closer to them. Lydia's first thought was Professor Snape and she tried to think of a good enough excuse as to why she and Ginny were out of bounds. But it ended up being Hermione, looking quite confused.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked, "Lydia, aren't you meant to be doing prefect duty?"

"This is part of my prefect duty," Lydia said.

Hermione then noticed Ginny crying and she shot up the stairs and sat next to Lydia. "What's going on? Is it you and Dean?"

Ginny nodded, "We broke up. I don't even know why I'm crying. It was never anything serious, anyway and he was still hung up on Seamus..."

"What did happen between them, anyway?" Lydia asked.

"Seamus freaked out at the end of last year because he remembered what his mum thought about same sex relationships," Hermione sighed, "And then told Dean everything between them had been an accident,"

"I really I am out of the loop..." Lydia muttered.

"So I was just a rebound. And I knew that!" She added angrily. Then she laughed, "Merlin, imagine being a rebound,"

"There's nothing wrong with being a rebound," Lydia said, "I'm ninety percent sure that I was a rebound after George went out with that...what's her face...Emily something or other in Ravenclaw?"

"You weren't a rebound - he went on one date with her, realised how horrible she was and then spent the next two months trying to work out how to ask you out but you were too distracted with Dragons," Ginny said, "you were all he spoke about. Still are, actually,"

"Oh," Lydia said, quite touched, "Well, my point still stands-"

"You'll find someone, Ginny. You're too funny and pretty not to," Hermione said gently.

"And you have great hair," Lydia added. Noticing the funny looks Hermione and Ginny gave her she quickly added, "I just...all the Weasley's have great hair!"

"I'm not even going to comment," Hermione muttered.

Half an hour later, they heard the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom door opened and they bolted. They ran all the way to the Room of Requirement where they were sure Snape was nowhere near them. Lydia doubled over, clutching a stitch in her side as Ginny burst into laughter. Hermione was gripping onto Lydia's shoulder and very much reminded her of the Hermione she knew in first year who was very afraid of breaking rules.

"What are you three doing?"

Lydia looked up and noticed, for the first time, Draco Malfoy. He was stood outside the Room of Requirement and looked rather like a deer in headlights. Hermione still hadn't let go of Lydia's shoulders and, if anything, was gripping hold of her tighter.

"What are you doing?" Lydia asked, "You don't have prefect duty tonight,"

"Neither does Weaselette, here," Malfoy said, jerking his head at her.

"Yes, but she's with us. You shouldn't be here," Hermione snapped. Then she looked up at the wall that concealed the Room of Requirement and narrowed her eyes, "Why are you trying to get in there?"

"I'm forming an underground rebellion group against Professor Dumbledore," Malfoy said drily, "Would you like to join? It's called Snape's Army,"

"No," Lydia said, "We're part of a group called the Headmastrial Squad put together by Professor Dumbledore. We're a special group of handpicked students that have the power to do things that normal students can't. For example, when I tell you to fuck off, you have to fuck off by law,"

Hermione and Ginny both laughed. Malfoy's cheeks went red and he drew his wand. Immediately, Lydia had hers out. At once, Hermione planted herself in front of Lydia and forced her wand down and shoved her backwards.

"Are you actively trying to lose your prefect badge?" She hissed.

"No, I'm actively trying to curse Malfoy and you're making it very difficult," Lydia said, trying to aim her wand over Hermione, "Hey, could you bend down slightly, I can't quite see him,"

"Lydia!" Hermione snapped, yanking her wand out of her hand, "No! I cannot do that! Come on, we're leaving,"

"When we get back to the common room, I might curse him," Lydia said to Hermione as Ginny snorted.

"Well, even I can't stop you there," Hermione said grimly, "Although, I really think you curse too many people,"

"If you were in Slytherin, you'd understand!"

When Ginny went to bed, Lydia turned to Hermione.

"So, how's life been?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I know you and Harry had another argument,"

"Is this the part where you shout at me?"

"No, because I think he's stupid for having Dobby and Kreacher to chase after Malfoy," she admitted, "However, arguing with him isn't going to solve anything. You know he's going through a lot,"

"Sometimes I feel like people forget that I am also going through a lot," Lydia said through gritted teeth.

"Because you never talk to us. It's hard to be supportive when we don't know what we're supporting you through," Hermione shook her head, "But that's not the point. The point is, is that you need each other. You're all he's had his entire life and he's all you've had his entire life. And the fact that you're not talking isn't helping either of you,"

"I know but-"

"It's natural to disagree on things," Hermione continued calmly, "But you shouldn't stop talking for months every time you have a disagreement. I think it would do you both the world of good if you sat down and caught up on everything, including what Harry talks about with Dumbledore because you're missing out on important information,"

"Yeah, but sometimes I just want to talk about normal teenager stuff. Like how awful Ron and Lavender are and-"

"They've broken up," Hermione said, a slight smile on her face.

"Oh...well...tell me everything,"

—

Lydia braved the Great Hall the next day. She was slowly but surely easing herself back into spending time there again. She sat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione and discussed the homework that Professor Snape had set them the previous lesson. He expected them to learn five new non-verbal spells in a week. Hermione had learned two, Ron had learned one and Lydia hadn't even looked at the list of spells he had given her. She was hoping for a random burst of talent in which she would be able to pull them off at last minute. Hermione tutted at this but didn't argue with her.

"Oh, you'll be fine. Hey, there's Harry - wait," Ron said, "Is he-"

Lydia looked up and screamed. Harry was wearing a Slytherin tie and there was a suspicious mark on his neck. Before anyone saw, she dived over the table and launched herself at him. She crashed into him and he staggered backwards out of the Great Hall. She didn't even think about the fact that this was the first time they'd spoke since they'd argued in the Hospital Wing.

"What are you doing?" He asked furiously.

"Your tie, you dickhead!" She snapped, "Why are you wearing a Slytherin tie?"

He blushed suddenly. "No reason!"

She narrowed his eyes him. "Harry James Potter, don't you dare lie to me. Why are you wearing a Slytherin tie?"

"I must have gotten it mixed up with one of yours,"

"How does that work? My ties stay in my dormitory and your ties stay in yours!"

The door of the dungeons opened and Draco Malfoy walked out. He wasn't wearing a tie, but holding a Gryffindor one. He glanced at Lydia and then at Harry who, if possible, had gone even more red.

"Potter, I believe you have my tie,"

As quick as a flash, Harry had taken the green tie off and given it to Malfoy who was supremely calm.

"If you want to get that thing off the side of your neck, ask your sister. When Weasley was still at school she usually came back to the common room looking like that," he smirked, "unless you want to wear it like a badge of honour," He winked at Harry who looked like he was going to collapse and then walked into the Great Hall.

"When I told you I was bisexual, you said you'd support me through anything,"

"I know," Lydia said quickly, "How did this even happen?"

"Well, we were arguing and then he shoved me against a wall and-"

"OK!" Lydia said, hastily, "Alright. I get the picture,"

Silence fell between them.

"So, anyway, this spell..." He gestured to his neck.

"Oh, yeah-" she took her wand out and muttered the spell, "Also, I didn't come back to the common everyday-"

"Sure you didn't,"

"It was actually a rare occurrence,"

"Mhmm,"

"Yeah, well, at least I didn't spend the night with Draco bloody Malfoy,"

"Shush! Not so loud!" He looked around.

"You're such a hypocrite," she muttered, "Who'd have thought that Harry bloody Potter would stop suspecting someone to be a Death Eater if they were a good snog. Let's hope no one tells Voldemort or he'll be coming onto us next,"

Harry laughed, "That's nightmare inducing." He looked around, "I'm going to tell Ron and Hermione tonight,"

"About...your ferret?"

"No! About the bi thing," He said, "Will you be there?"

"Of course,"

That evening, they found an empty classroom to sit in under the guise of 'revision' although none of them were actually revising, even Hermione. Since Ron and Lavender had broken up, she was in an even better mood and was more than happy to take a night off work. Though, they did have all their books to just in case a teacher looked in and found them not doing any work.

"I need to tell you all something and if you hate me I'm really sorry," Harry said so quickly and so loudly that Ron almost toppled off his chair.

"Have you murdered someone?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry said. "No, it's..it's um...you know...I am...I mean...don't be weirded out...I...you know...still the same Harry..uh..."

"Spit it out, mate," Ron yawned.

"Imbisexualpleasedonthateme,"

Lydia could tell that Ron and Hermione barely understood what he said because they were both frowning. Harry had gone bright red and looked like he was on the verge of tears again.

"Sorry - what?" Hermione said, "I didn't quite get that,"

"Would you like to hold Fabio to make you feel better?" Lydia asked, holding him up to Harry.

Harry took a deep breath and held Fabio close to his chest.

'I am a bisexual,"

"Incorrect grammar," Lydia whispered.

"I'm bisexual,"

"Got it,"

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other and Lydia's heart dropped to her stomach. Were they really not going to accept him? After all the things that they had been through together, after all the arguments, was this the thing that was going to tear them apart? Harry looked at the floor.

"How long have you known?" Hermione asked.

"Halfway through fourth year," Harry muttered, still not looking at them.

"And you've kept it quiet all this time?" Ron asked, "Mate...why? You must have known that we'd be fine with it,"

Harry's head snapped up. "You're...okay with it?"

Hermione smiled at him and put her hand on his, "Merlin, Harry, of course we are. We're you best friends,"

"I know but I didn't want it to change anything," Harry said.

"Honestly Harry, at this point, I don't think there's any getting away from you," Ron said, "After that chess game in first year, the Chamber of Secrets, thinking that Sirius Black was going to kill me, the second Triwizard task and everything that happened last year...I've kind of accepted that I'm in this for the long run," He shrugged, "There's nothing that you could tell us that changes anything,"

"Unless you murdered someone," Hermione said, "Although, I suppose it depended who you murdered,"

"Why are you so obsessed with murder suddenly? Should we be worried? Do we need tell someone?" Lydia asked.

Hermione waved her down and turned back to Harry.

"We're your best friends, Harry, we'll stand by you through everything and anything," she said, "We love you," She smiled at him and then said, "So, is there a boy we need to know about? Or a girl?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, there isn't," Lydia bit back a laugh and wondered if they would be as supportive if they knew about Draco Malfoy.

"Yeah there is!" Ron said, "That's why Lydia freaked out at Breakfast! You were wearing a different house tie!"

Lydia stared at him open-mouthed. Out of all the times that Ron could have been observant, it had to be that morning. Hermione raised her eyebrows and turned to look at Harry who had gone red.

"What tie was it?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't see," Ron shrugged.

"It was Ravenclaw," Lydia said quickly, "Although, he wouldn't tell me who it was,"

"And I'm not going to," Harry said, "Because you'll just laugh,"

"Oh, Merlin!" Ron exclaimed, "It's Zacharias Smith, isn't it?

"Merlin, Ron, no!" Harry yelled, "I wouldn't sink that low!"

Lydia wanted to point out that she would rather kiss Zacharias Smith than Draco Malfoy but stayed silent. Harry seemed to have realised this as well and frowned slightly, clearly mulling it over.

"If this doesn't work out, there's enough Weasley to go round," Lydia said, glancing at Ron.

"You're not going out with any of my brothers!"

"Which ones are single?" Harry asked, "Fred, Percy and Charlie? And Bill isn't married quite yet, is he?"

"I can't tell if he's joking or not," Ron said. He looked at Hermione, "Please tell me he's joking,"

"You know, I think you and Fred would be cute," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Harry, I can get behind you being bisexual but the Weasley family is off limits!" Ron said seriously, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around Lydia and George,"


	13. Sectumsempra

_**"We don't need no more danger,**_

 _ **we don't need no more difficulties,**_

 _ **we don't need no more misunderstanding,**_

 _ **and we don't need no more violence,"**_

 _ **\- Burning Spear**_

Harry and Lydia didn't talk about Draco Malfoy again. Though, the identity of Harry's mystery boyfriend or girlfriend didn't leave Ron's mind. Every single day, Ron sprang the question on him as if hoping he would accidentally slip up, but he never did. Whenever Ron did this and Malfoy was within earshot, Lydia would always look up at him and see if he would react, but he never did. Lydia had expected Hermione to work out who it was but she never showed any sign than she did. If she did know it was Malfoy, then she was keeping it to herself.

One thing that Lydia did notice about Draco Malfoy (apart from the hickeys on his neck) was that he stopped playing Quidditch. He turned up to practice one day with a note off Madam Pomfrey saying that he could no longer play due to an illness. Lydia didn't buy the excuse for one minute - he was definitely hiding something. Had this been a few weeks earlier, she probably would have brought it up to Harry but if she did that now, it would probably start an argument and she was trying to be a supportive as possible, even if she did hate Malfoy.

"You hate Malfoy, but you love Harry," she would mutter to herself over and over again, "Harry is the most important person in this equation, don't fuck it up again."

James had also noticed that Harry was involved with someone (thanks to Ron's constant pestering) and had been quick to ask who the mysterious person was. When Harry refused to tell him, he stepped down very quickly but did ask Lydia.

"If he's not telling you, I'm not," she shrugged.

"So you know?" He asked eagerly.

"Obviously I know! We're twins!" She said, "And that is why I'm not telling you!"

With Malfoy no longer playing on the Quidditch team and the quite dreadful Harper taking over from him, Lydia knew that there was no chance they would get through to the final. For as much as it pained her to admit it, Malfoy was a very good flier. She was quite thankful that they wouldn't get through the final, though, because that would mean having to play Gryffindor again and though she was a Slytherin, it felt wrong playing against them.

On the morning of the match, Lydia dragged herself down to the Quidditch pitch. She wasn't even slightly looking forward to this match. She was almost hoping that someone would hit a bludger at her early on so she wouldn't have to be around for too long.

The good thing, was that it was short. Lydia, Zabini and Urquhart managed to score a goal each before Cho Chang managed to catch the snitch and win the game for Ravenclaw. It was a relief when James blew his whistle and they were able to get back onto the ground. Urquhart walked over to her, his head hung.

"Well, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be," he said.

"At least it was quick," she shrugged.

James jogged over to them and put his arm around her shoulders.

"You were good and that's all that matters," he said seriously.

"Yeah. At least I don't have to worry about Quidditch until next year," she said.

"You need to worry about Gryffindor playing," he pointed out, "you know, be a supportive sister and all that,"

April dissolved into May and Lydia couldn't stop thinking about the end of the school year. She wasn't looking forward to going back to the Dursleys, but she was quite looking forward for them to pretend that she didn't exist for a few weeks. James had told her that for some reason, Dumbledore would not allow them to go straight to his flat. One thing that she definitely wasn't looking forward to her was her final year at Hogwarts; she still had no idea what she was going to do once she left school.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lydia jumped back and looked around, expecting to see someone trying to jinx her, but there was no one to be seen. Lydia frowned and thought that she was hearing things but then she heard the sound of another jinx cracking against a wall and she almost fell over, but realised that it was coming from the boys bathroom.

Carefully, she placed Fabio in her pocket to keep him from harm and plucked her wand from her bun. Holding her wand out, she kicked the door open and ran in, expecting to find annoying fourth years but the sight that met her shocked her. Harry and Malfoy were locked in a furious duel. Lydia yelped and dived out of the way as one of Malfoy's jinxes soared above her.

Making sure that Fabio was safe in her pocket, she jumped in between them.

"PROTEGO!"

The shield charm grew between them and the last two jinxes they cast bounced off them. Harry staggered away from her when he saw her and Malfoy lowered his wand. For the first time, Lydia realised that Malfoy was crying.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" She snapped, "I thought you were...friends,"

"Yeah, so did I!" Harry said angrily, "But now he won't tell me what's up with him!"

"Malfoy-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, POTTER!" Malfoy screamed, taking Lydia by surprise. She had only ever seen him composed, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!"

"Because you don't tell me anything!" Harry hissed.

"BECAUSE I'M SCARED!" He yelled and then he faltered, "I...I'm so scared.." And he burst into tears.

Lydia jumped back and prodded Harry forward, "This is your problem,"

Hesitantly, Harry walked towards Malfoy and put his arms around his waist. "Draco," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I..I don't know what's going on with you, but whatever it is, I'll help,"

"He-he-" Malfoy seemed to be in some sort of daze and it was making Lydia extremely uncomfortable, "If I don't - they - killed - I-" He blinked a few times and then looked at Harry and jerked backwards, as though he had seen him for the first time, "Fuck of, Potter!" He shoved Harry in the chest and Harry almost crashed into Lydia. "Why do you think you can solve everything just because you have a scar on your head?"

"Draco, what-"

"DEPULSO!"

Lydia grabbed Harry and pulled him down to the floor. Moaning Myrtle floated above them, crying loudly. She tried to shush her but that only made it worse - Myrtle swooped above them, wailing so loudly that Lydia had to clap her hands over her ears.

"Harry! Come on!" She yelled as another jinx cracked above their heads, "We need to get someone!"

She dived up and ran towards the door, but Harry wasn't done. He whirled around.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

"What kind of spell is-oh, Merlin!"

Lydia watched in horror as blood began to spurt from Malfoy's chests, arms and face, as though an invisible sword was cutting deeply into his flesh. For a moment, Malfoy looked shocked and then he fell to the floor, twitching slightly. Lydia screamed and ran towards him, falling to her knees next to him. Water was swirling around them and his blood was dissolving into it.

"Malfoy? Malfoy? Can you hear me?" Lydia said, bending over to him - he was breathing, but barely. She turned to Harry, "What the fuck have you done? What spell was that?"

Colour had drained from Harry's face and he was gripping onto one of the bathroom stalls, shaking his head.

"I-I don't know! It was in the book!"

"You cast a spell and had no idea how it worked?" She asked, horrified, "GO AND GET HELP!"

But there was no point, Moaning Myrtle gave another great wail and disappeared through one of the walls. "MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM!"

"Lydia! Help me!" He yelled, running towards her, "Go and hide the book for me - please! The-"

"What has happened here?"

Lydia whirled around and saw the last person they wanted to see - Professor Snape. His bottom lip curled at the sight in the bathroom.

"Miss Potter, if this was your doing-"

"It wasn't," Harry said quickly, "It was me. She just tried to help. I don't know what I did, sir,"

Snape shoved them both out of the way and knelt over Malfoy. He took his wand out and muttered incantations under his breath. As he did so, the cuts began to disappear and it was as though Harry had never done anything. Though Lydia didn't think that Snape would let it go that quickly, and part of her didn't blame him.

"Miss Potter, you will go to Gryffindor common room and bring me all of your brothers books. Potter, you stay here." Snape said in his meanest voice. Lydia frowned at him, somehow, he knew about the book.

"What's the password-"

"Quid Agis," Harry said quickly.

Lydia bolted out of the bathroom and ran up to the Gryffindor common room with complete disregard to the fact that she was trailing water and blood behind her. When she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lydia could tell that she was in the mood for a chat.

"Lydia! I haven't seen you for-"

"Quid Agis,"

"I'm fine, thank-you-"

"What?"

"Quid Agis is Latin for 'how are you?'," The Fat Lady said, "So, I was saying, I'm done but-why are you covered in blood?"

"Not now!" Lydia yelled, "Quid Agis! Let me in! It's important! Quid Agis!"

The Fat Lady rolled her eyes, "I shouldn't even let you in here. You're not a Gryffindor," but she swung open anyway and allowed Lydia in. At once, Lydia scrambled through the portrait hole and looked around, spotting Ron and Hermione sat in the corner. She shoved two first years out of the way and practically fell onto them.

"Where's Harry's bag?"

"What?" Ron asked. He looked at her and his eyes widened, "Why are you wet? Is-is that blood?"

"WHERE IS HARRY'S BAG?" She screamed.

Hermione gave her a frightened look but reached down beside her and handed her his bag. Lydia tore it open and glanced into it, making sure that all of his books were there.

"Ron - can I have your potions book?"

"Why?"

"Please!" She said, "It's really important!"

He gave her a funny look but handed it to her anyway. She took it off him and shoved it into her pocket before taking Fabio out of it and handed him to Hermione, "Look after him!"

"Wait - are you not going to tell me what's going on?"

"Later!" She said, putting Harry's bag on her shoulder and rushing out of the room.

Flushed and out of breath, Lydia made it back to the boys bathroom. Someone had moved Malfoy from the bathroom and Snape was looking at Harry with a look that would have made Lydia want to leave the country and never come back. Silently, Lydia handed Snape Harry's bag.

"That will be all, Miss Potter," Snape said, fixing her with a cold hard stare.

Lydia glanced at Harry but felt Snape's eyes boring into her and very quickly left, feeling as though her heart was in her mouth. She ran all the way to the seventh floor and walked up and down in front of the Room of Requirement. "I need somewhere to hide the book...I need somewhere to hide the book...somewhere where no one can find it...somewhere to hide the book, please, please..."

She opened her eyes and a door had materialised there. She opened the door and ran inside. Inside was quite a magnificent sight; the room was the biggest that she had ever seen it and was full of towering piles of objects. Some didn't look particularly important, whilst others looked like they belonged in museums, rather than whatever the hell this room was meant to be.

She looked around and her eyes fell upon an ugly wardrobe. Just beyond that, on a pile of what was seemingly rubbish, a tiara that was sat upon the bust of a head. She grabbed the book out of her pocket and hurried over to the head. Carefully, she picked it up and shoved the book underneath it, slowly backing away from it. If, for some reason, Harry really wanted the book back, Lydia would be able to remember where it was.

Taking one last look at the book, Lydia turned on her heel and ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. The bang of the door shutting echoed throughout the corridor brought her back down to earth. Panic began to sink in and she collapsed against the wall, imagining the worst - would Harry get expelled? Whilst Moaning Myrtle was overly-dramatic, even Lydia couldn't help but agree with her - it did look like murder. If Malfoy were to die...

She shoved that thought from her mind and ran back down the corridor, running to James' office. When she arrived there, she didn't even bother to knock and just burst in. James was sat on one of the armchairs reading a book and, in his panic, chucked the book at Lydia. She quickly ducked underneath the book and closed the door behind her.

"Lydia! What's...oh, Merlin...what's wrong? What's happened? Is that blood?"

"Dad, I...I don't know what's happened!"

And before she knew it, she had burst into tears. James jumped over the back of the couch and ran over to her, slowly leading her over to the couch.

"Come on, tell me,"

She took a deep, shuddering breath and launched into the story of what happened. By the time she had finished, she realised that she was shaking uncontrollably. James nodded once and jumped up. He ran over to the corner of the room and made her a cup of tea.

"Tell me the spell again," he said quietly.

"Sectumsempra," she repeated, "why? Do you know it?"

"I almost got on the wrong side of it once, at school," he said, "I think it's safe to safe it's borderline Dark Magic. Almost everyone who used it ended up being a Death Eater," he paused, "but I don't understand why it was written in the book,"

Lydia shook her head.

"I think he's become obsessed with it," she said frantically, "even Hermione said he reads it too much and if Hermione Granger says that you read a book too much...something's wrong,"

James ran a hand through his hair.

"Why were they fighting in the first place?"

"I don't know! They've had this weird relationship thing going on and - oh no."

"Harry...and Malfoy?" James asked, his eyes wide.

Lydia closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands, suddenly feeling a lot like Hagrid. "I shouldn't have said that...I shouldn't have...Merlin, dad don't tell him I said something!"

"I won't!" He promised hurriedly, "I just...wow. That's a shock,"

Lydia nodded. "I know! They've hated each other the entire time they were here and now look at them!"

"To be fair, your mum hated me," James said.

"Yeah, but you grew up! Malfoys just gotten...weird," Lydia said, "And now he might die! What's going to happen to him, dad?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "I really don't. I know people who survived the spell and people who didn't...but I think it's safe to say that Harry is in a lot of-"

There was a knock on the door and they both fell silent. James cast Lydia an anxious look and hurried to open the door, revealing Professor Snape. He looked into the office and when his eyes fell on Lydia, he smiled slightly.

"Ah," He said softly, "I assume you know what's happened,"

"Yes," James said stiffly, "where's Harry?"

"I sent Potter back to the Gryffindor Common Room, where he belongs. I have given him detention every Saturday for the rest of the school year and taken 70 points of Gryffindor. Your son performed Dark Magic today, Potter, I hope you realise,"

"Of course I realise that, Snivellus," James said, "though, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, should they?"

Snape narrowed his eyes at James and then swept out of the room, his robes bellowing around him. James slammed the door shut and turned to Lydia.

"I shouldn't resort to being so petty but he has such a punchable face!" James groaned, flopping down onto one of the armchairs.

"What are we going to do? About Harry?" Lydia asked.

"Give him time,"

Lydia wasn't sure how much time they had left.

The next morning, Lydia was woken up by Pansy Parkinson standing over her bed and prodding her in the side. She screamed and sat bolt right up in bed, her wand in her hand.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" She yelled, "Have you ever heard of personal space?"

Pansy ignored her.

"Is it true that your brother tried to murder Draco?"

"My brother did not try and murder Malfoy! It was an accident!" She snapped, "so I don't know what Snape is telling you that happened, but he got it wrong,"

"They've hated each other even since they came to this school, it would make sense that he would try and kill him!" Pansy said, "And they're saying it's Dark Magic-"

"First of all, Harry is as likely to become a Death Eater as Voldemort is to stop trying to kill us and, secondly, I thought I was the twin who was into the Dark Arts? Or has everyone gotten over that now?"

And with that, Lydia pulled her robes up, snatched her school bag off the ground and stormed out of the common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting for her outside, both with anxious looks on their faces.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, "Harry hasn't told us anything. He came to the common room late last night and then left really early. I don't know where he is,"

Lydia sighed and told them the story. Neither of them took it particularly well, especially Hermione whose eyes were round.

"He used a spell even though he didn't know what it did?" She exclaimed, "How thick can he get?"

"I know. It was awful..." Lydia said in a low voice in case people were listening, "It was like someone had taken a sword to him and was just slicing him open,"

"What were they arguing about?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Lydia said, "I never quite got to the bottom of that because then Snape showed up and when I brought him Harry's bag, he sent me away. But I know he's given Harry detention every Saturday for the rest of the year-"

"Quidditch!" Ron groaned.

"What?"

"The final match against Ravenclaw! It's soon, isn't it! And it's on a Saturday!"

"I can't believe he's managed to get himself banned from Quidditch again," Lydia said, "I wonder where he is,"

"Do you not have the map?" Hermione asked.

"No, Harry has it."

They arrived in the Great Hall and looked around for Harry. He was sat at the very end of the Gryffindor table, sat away from everyone. Lydia hesitantly sat down next to him. He looked up and smiled at them before getting distracted by his cereal. She exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione, shrugged slightly and then started making a bacon muffin.

"I don't want to talk about," Harry said suddenly.

"OK," Lydia said.

"I know you probably want to say 'I told you so,", Hermione but-"

"I don't,"

"I just want to move on from it,"

"That's fine," Ron said, "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to, mate,"

And they acted like it never happened.


	14. Second War

_**It's not war, just the end of love.**_

 _ **-Manic Street Preachers**_

Lydia sat cross legged outside of Snape's office, a book open in her lap whilst Fabio munched on a piece of lettuce. She was waiting for Harry to finish his latest detention with Snape even though all she had wanted to do was go and watch the final Quidditch match of the season. Harry had replaced himself with Ginny and had gotten Dean Thomas to play in her place, though Lydia wasn't sure that Ginny was so thrilled about that. Especially after everything that had happened between them but, as usual, Harry was completely oblivious to the whole thing and hadn't realised what was wrong until it was too late.

The door opened and Harry walked out. He looked exhausted. At once, she jumped up and walked over to him.

"Are you OK?" She asked.

"Been better," he said. He looked at his watch, "The match will probably be over by now...unless it's gone completely wrong,"

Lydia walked over to one of the windows and glanced out at the Quidditch pitch - it was empty.

"Come on," Lydia said, "We'll go and see what's happened,"

Together, they walked up to the Gryffindor common room. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she was sat so still, that she almost looked like a muggle portrait.

"Quid Agis," Harry said tentatively.

"You'll see," The Fat Lady replied, not giving anything away.

She swung open and the sound that met them almost knocked them off their feet. Hands pulled them into common room and Ron was stood on a table, holding the silver cup above his head, jumping up and down. The Gryffindor Quidditch team descended on Harry and it seemed that any ill will that they had been feeling towards their captain for missing such an important match had disappeared.

Someone shoved Lydia out of the way and she fell into Hermione who quickly caught her. She looked up and she started laughing for Ginny Weasley had thrown her arms around Harry and was kissing him. The sounds of cheering only increased as they pulled apart, looking quite sheepish but very happy. Lydia looked at Ron, he was still holding the cup above his head but looked quite shock. Finally, he looked at Harry and kind of shrugged whilst nodding his head as if to say, "well, if you have too, mate,"

Harry grinned and looked at Ginny, jerking his head towards the portrait hole and they left the common room to a chorus of wolf whistles. Hermione laughed and turned to Lydia.

"It's about time, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Lydia said, slightly confused by the whole thing, "I suppose so,"

"Have you spoken to Harry about what him and Dumbledore are talking about in their lessons?"

Lydia shook her head, "No. Why?

"It's really important," Hermione said anxiously, "And-and I know I probably shouldn't tell you, but...Merlin, Lyds, it's serious,"

"All right, all right! What is it?"

"Voldemort has created these things called Horcruxes," She said in a low voice, "They're objects that have part of his soul in and he can only be killed if they're destroyed,"

Lydia nodded and took Fabio out of her pocket, stroking him. Part of her wasn't surprised by this news. She had always assumed that Voldemort would be doing something more sinister than just killing people.

"And he wants Harry to help him find one?" Lydia asked in a resigned voice.

"Yes,"

Lydia sighed and sat back in her chair, her head in her hands. Fabio squealed at her and hid under her jumper. Lydia wished that she could find a jumper to hide under. Hermione was looking at her, worriedly.

"I'm going to have to go with them," Lydia whispered.

"Lydia-"

"I was stupid to think I ever had a choice," Lydia said, "I don't get to just back out of this and act like none of this is ever going to affect me!" She groaned, "I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow,"

Lydia walked through the halls of Hogwarts expecting the worst. She expected Voldemort to pop out from behind a tapestry or for Dumbledore to tell them about some ridiculous quest that they would have to go on. It never happened. Instead, she retreated back into her shell and took to getting food straight from the kitchens to avoid going into the Great Hall.

Hermione didn't try and talk to her, and neither did Ron or Harry. Though, Harry had become distracted by Ginny Weasley and Lydia didn't blame him. He deserved some goodness. They all did.

Early one morning, Lydia dragged herself up to the Owlery and wrote to George. There wasn't anything that he could do or say to help her, but it made her feel better. Once she had written a ridiculously long letter that even she wouldn't read, she called Hedwig down.

"Take this to George," Lydia said, stroking her head, "Don't be long,"

Hedwig nipped her finger affectionately and took off flying through the window. Lydia watched her go until she disappeared in the bright sunlight. Behind her, the door opened and Malfoy walked in. Lydia's hand automatically went to her wand but Malfoy shook his head.

"Obviously I'm not going to get into another duel with a Potter," Malfoy said, "And we all know that you are the much scarier Potter,"

"Not now, Malfoy," Lydia said, "I'm having a crisis - and not one I'm sharing with you,"

"So, your brother and Ginny Weasley...he moves on quickly,"

"All Weasleys have great hair. It's very easy to get sucked in," Lydia shrugged. She glanced at him, "You know, I think you're a dick and you're definitely up to something but I'm glad you're better," she smiled at him and left the Owlery, leaving behind what she assumed was probably a very confused Draco Malfoy.

When Lydia saw Harry running down the corridor towards her at top speed, she knew that something was wrong. He grabbed her arm to stop himself from crashing to the floor, looking at her in a way that made her feel like he might have finally lost his mind.

"You're on prefect duty tonight, right?" He asked.

"Yes. That's where I'm going now...why?"

"Dumbledore found a Horcrux," he said hurriedly, "I'm going with him now," he shoved the Marauders Map and a small bottle of potion into her hands, "That's Felix Felicis - liquid luck,"

"Harry, what-"

"Lydia, listen to me, drink it. Give some to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. I heard someone celebrating in the Room of Requirement before and I think something's going to happen tonight," He said quickly, "Please, Lydia, you need to do this for me - I don't have time, right now - Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak,"

"Wait, Harry. I don't understand what you mean-"

"Snape and Malfoy are up to something. I know for a fact that they are. Watch where they are on the Marauders Map. Get the DA Galleons and call everyone together. If Snape knows that Dumbledore is leaving the castle, something is going to happen. Tonight," He hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, "I'll see you later,"

She grabbed the back of his robes and yanked him back.

"Harry! You can't just leave me like that!" She yelled.

"I need to go!" He said, "Just...just be careful, please!"

"Take the potion then, you don't know what you'll be facing! You'll need it!" Lydia said, pushing it back towards him.

"I'll be fine, I'll be with Dumbledore," he said, "Tell Ron and Hermione where I am, and Ginny too...don't look at me like that, Lydia, I'll be fine. I'll see you later," And then he was gone.

Lydia stood frozen in the corridor for a few minutes before turning her back on the corridor that she was meant to be patrolling and ran up to the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione were sat together in their normal seats. As she ran over to them, Lydia grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her along.

"Ouch! Lydia, what are you doing?" She yelled.

"Harry's gone," and she quickly explained what had happened and where Harry was going. Glancing around, she put the Felix Felicis on the table and looked up at them, "He thinks that something is going to happen tonight," Lydia said and she took the DA Galleon out of her pocket that she always kept with her, just in case. "We need to contact the rest of the DA,"

"Lydia, don't be ridiculous-" Hermione said but Lydia shook her head.

"No," Lydia said, "It's not ridiculous. I'm not saying that Snape or Malfoy are going to do something but, there's something going on tonight,"

"Fine," Hermione said, "Do whatever you have to do,"

They split the Felix Felicis between the four of them and then Lydia changed the time on the Galleon to half an hours time. Previous members of the DA who still had their Galleons on them looked over at her frowned.

"Later!" She said, "Right - I'll see you lot later,"

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"I need to speak to my dad,"

She rushed from the common and to her dad's office. For the first time, she actually knocked on the door instead of just bursting open. When he opened it, he looked quite shocked but quickly stepped aside.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Harry's gone looking for a Horcrux with Dumbledore," she said quickly, "And he thinks something's going to happen tonight. I've gotten the DA together and-"

"OK, I'll make sure none of you get in trouble," He kissed her on the forehead, "I'm sure it'll be fine, whatever happens,"

Lydia smiled at him and ran back down to the Slytherin common room and placed Fabio on her bed. She left him some food and ran back upstairs and towards the Room of Requirement where the DA were waiting for her, all of them looking very confused.

"What's going on?" Ernie Macmillan asked.

"Listen - I think there's going to be an attack on the school tonight," she said quickly, "I need you lot patrolling the corridors. Luna and Hermione- wait outside Professor Snape's office, make sure he doesn't leave. I'll stay outside here with Ron," she looked back over the group, "Ernie and Susan, I want you two at the Entrance Hall. Ginny, I want you down in the Slytherin dungeons with Neville. Everyone else, patrol the corridors. Stay near the common rooms, just in case,"

Despite the funny looks that people were giving her, they all nodded and hurried off. Lydia took out the Marauder's Map, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,". She quickly scanned it and everyone seemed to be where they were meant to be. Snape was in his study but the only problem was that she couldn't see where Malfoy was. The Slytherin common seemed to be packed so she just assumed that she couldn't see him among everyone else.

"This is going to be a long night," Ron said, "It's only eight o'clock,"

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Lydia said. She slid down the wall and sat cross legged on the floor.

Five hours later, Ron suddenly jerked up and scrambled away from the Room of Requirement. "There's someone in there!" He said, pointing at the door. It had opened slightly and, sure enough, Lydia could hear voices coming from inside. Lydia jumped up, her wand drawn and Ron quickly ran to join her.

Suddenly, the door banged open and Bellatrix Lestrange burst out of the Room, cackling. Her eyes grew wide when her eyes fell upon Lydia and Ron, and she lifted her wand.

" _EXPELLIARMUS!_ " Lydia yelled.

Bellatrix flicked her wand and Lydia's spell disappeared in mid air. Fenrir Greyback was the next out, followed by three Death Eaters who Lydia had never seen before, and then Draco Malfoy. He froze when he saw Lydia but didn't say anything.

"You two are brave aren't you?" Bellatrix taunted, "Being here all by yourselves?"

"They aren't here alone,"

Lydia whirled around as Professor Babbling and McGonagall marched down the corridor, their wands held out before them. Bellatrix began to laugh again and more and more Death Eaters spilled out of the Room. Ron glanced at Lydia who was trying her to best to not start crying.

"Potter, get going," Babbling hissed at her as McGonagall cast the first spell of the duel.

Lydia grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him after her. "We need to tell the others what's going on,"

By the time they had found members of the DA, the castle was crawling with Death Eaters. Lydia held her wand tighter and gave into the fact that there would be no easy way out of this as two Death Eaters climbed the stairs towards her and Ron.

"This should be fun," Lydia muttered, " _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

The Death Eater ducked under the spell, laughing slightly. " _Stupefy!_ "

" _Protego!_ "

Lydia backed away slightly as the Death Eater advanced on her. He was laughing slightly. She panicked and yelled the first spell that popped into her head, " _Colloshoo!_ " She allowed herself to laugh for a moment as the Death Eaters shoes became stuck to the ground and he was unable to move.

" _Deprimo!_ " She yelled before the Death Eater could cast a spell again. There was a awful cracking sound and he yelled as the bones in his wand arm broke and collapsed against the banister, nursing his injured hand. She cast, "Petrificus Totalus," for good measure and then ran on with Ron.

Curses and jinxes were flying everywhere but none seemed to hit Lydia or Ron. Twice, she was quite sure that two jinxes flew right through her as though she was a ghost.

" _Everte Statum!_ " Lydia said as a Death Eater ran up to Neville from behind. As she passed the fallen Death Eater, she made a point of kicking her in the side as she la groaning. "Alright, Nev?" She asked.

"Fine," he said, wiping blood from his lip, "What's going on?"

"I don't know," she said, "I don't really know why they're - _FLIPENDO_ \- I don't really know why they're here-" another Death Eater advanced on them and Lydia pushed Neville out of the way, " _Expulso_ ," she winced slightly as it caught a Death Eater in the chest, "Oooh, never used that on a person before-" She was suddenly flung through the air and landed in a plant. She groaned and pushed herself off the floor, holding her side - her Felix Felicis must have run out.

She looked up and a big blonde Death Eater was walking towards her. " _Fumos!_ "

A cloud of dark grey smoke suddenly obscured her vision and she couldn't see anything. " _Lumos! Lumos! Lumos maxima!_ Oh no..." She could hear the Death Eater walking towards her but she couldn't see anything, " _INCENDIO!_ " Fire burst from the end of her wand and she heard the Death Eater yell and the smoke began to disperse.

" _Impedimenta_!" But the Death Eater just waved his wand and the spell bounced back towards Lydia, who only just managed to jump out of the way.

"LYDIA!"

She spun around just as James charged towards her. He wrapped his arms around her and rugby tackled her to the floor as a curse soared over their heads. He shoved her away from him and jumped up. "Hey! We went to school together!"

The Death Eater ignored him.

" _Sectum_ -"

" _Protego_ ," James said, almost lazily, "That's not a very nice spell you know,"

"Dad!" Lydia yelled, "Watch out!"

It happened so quickly. A jet of purple light hit him in the chest and he fell backwards, tumbling down the stairs and coming to a standstill at the bottom. The Death Eater laughed loudly and Lydia's mind went blank, the only thing she could think about doing was killing the Death Eater. She pushed herself off the floor and ran towards the Death Eater.

" _Deprimo_!" She shouted over and over again. She felt herself smile as the Death Eater fell to the floor crying out in pain as his bones broke. "Bombarda Maxima," there was a sound like a gunshot and the Death Eater was blown off his feet and flew through a window.

If she was ever going to feel remorse for what she had done, it would not be that night.

"Lydia?"

She turned around and came face to face with George. The look on his face told Lydia that he had just seen everything.

"What did you do?" He asked.

"What had to be done," Lydia said. Despite the fact that her heart was pounding almost painfully in her chest and her hands were shaking, her voice was surprisingly calm. She hurried past George and down the stairs, falling to her knees next to James. He was horribly pale and had gone completely limp, blood pooling around his head. Bile rose in her throat and tears sprang to her eyes. He couldn't have died. She couldn't have lost him. Not again.

Suddenly, James gasped and opened his eyes, groaning. Lydia screamed and scrambled away from him. George ran down the stairs and froze a few steps above them, looking down at James with wide eyes. James seemed completely unaware of what was happening around him and slowly sat up, putting a hand to the back of his head before turning to the side and throwing up. Being sick seemed to have woken him up more because he turned to his other side to finally face Lydia, who could not tell if any lasting damage had been done to him or not.

"That was not a nice spell," he said, "I don't know what spell it was, but it wasn't nice,"

"I thought you were dead!" Lydia cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Ah, don't worry, sweetheart, I'm not leaving you again," he said, softly, "I'm always going to be here," he groaned, "but I would like to go to the Hospital Wing round about now, I think I've lost too much blood,"

Up in the Hospital Wing, Fred, Ron, Hermione and Luna were gathered around a bed with Remus and Tonks. All of them bore marks of the battle. Lydia looked over Tonks' shoulder and almost threw up at the sight of Bill, because he didn't look like Bill. His face was bloody, ripped and grotesque and covered in bandages. Madam Pomfrey was dabbing something green and harsh-smelling onto his cuts. George swore quietly under his breath and turned his back on Bill, gripping onto Lydia's hand.

"Is he going to be a-" Lydia looked uncertainly at Lupin.

He shook his head. "No, I do not think so, but that doesn't. Mean that there won't be some contamination. I think that he might have some wolffish characteristics,"

"We don't need anymore of them," James quipped from the bed.

"If you didn't have a massive hole in your head, I'd hit you,"

The doors opened and Harry and Ginny walked in. Automatically, Lydia knew that something had gone wrong.

"Dumbledore's dead," Ginny said.

"No!" Lupin said. He collapsed into a chair beside Bill's bed, his head in his hands. Lydia looked at Harry. His eyes were filled with tears and his lower lip was trembling.

"What happened?" She asked.

"It was Snape," Harry said numbly. Lydia felt her knees buckle slightly and George put his arm around her waist. "I was there. I saw it. It was on the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy came first and disarmed him and then more Death Eaters came...but then Malfoy couldn't do it so Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra curse,"

Lydia stared at her brother and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He was thinking about Malfoy and how he had come to trust him. And how they had taken the massive step of calling each other by their first names. He was shaking his head and was just looking utterly defeated.

"Harry, I.." But she had no idea what to say. They stood in silence for what might have been hours. The only sound was of that of Fawkes the Phoenix as he flew around the grounds, singing a lament. Hearing his song made Lydia feel a lot better.

The door opened again and McGonagall strolled in, "Molly and Arthur are on their way. Where's Albus?"

"Snape killed him," said Harry.

"Snape," repeated McGonagall faintly, "Snape killed Dumbledore? We all wondered...but he trusted...he always trusted...Severus..I can't believe it,"

Lydia felt a sudden rush of guilt. Harry had been right about Snape all along...if she had just listened to him, maybe this could have been avoided.

"I'd love to know what Snape said to Dumbledore to make him trust him," Tonks said bitterly.

"I know," Harry said and they all turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realised what he was doing. He said he was really sorry and than he was sorry he was dead,"

Lupin laughed bitterly. "And Dumbledore believed that? Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry I was dead? He hated James more than anything!"

"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn, either...he called her, 'Mudblood,' he did..." Harry muttered.

No one said anything after this. Lydia rested her head on George's shoulder and screwed her eyes shut.

"What happened with you?" Harry asked James who just shrugged.

"I remember nothing," James said, quietly.

Lydia opened her eyes. "I got the DA together and assigned them posts. I stayed outside the Room of Requirement with Ron and then they came..." Lydia shook her head, "Ginny and Neville were in the dungeons and Hermione and Luna were outside Snape's office,"

"What happened?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Nothing happened for ages and we didn't know what was happening upstairs because Lydia and Ron had the Marauders Map," Hermione said, her head hung, "And then Flitwick came running down into the dungeons at around midnight, shouting about Death Eaters in the castle. I don't think he even realised that me and Luna were there because he just ran straight into Snape's office-" she groaned, "And we were so stupid! There was a thump and Snape came out saying that Flitwick had banged his head and then he ran away...so went into his office to see if we could help Professor Flitwick and he was unconscious..."

"So Snape Stupefied him," Lydia said quietly.

"It's so obvious!" Hermione wailed, "We shouldn't have let him go!"

"Hermione, it's not your fault," Lupin said firmly, "If you'd have tried to stop him, then he would have just killed both you and Luna,"

"What were you doing?" Harry asked Lydia.

"Well, me and Ron were outside the Room of Requirement and then all the Death Eaters came out...and Professor McGonagall and Babbling turned up and we ran away and then more Death Eaters came," she said quickly, "then I got separated from Ron and I didn't know where he was.

"And then I found Neville and my Felix Felicis ran out so then that big blonde Death Eater came over to me and then we were duelling and I was losing, terribly, and then dad took over and he hit him with some spell. I don't know what it was. I've never seen it before,"

"So, did the Death Eater get away?" James asked.

George squeezed her hand slightly. Lydia could not bring herself to face him, or anyone else. She did not regret what she had done, but she did not think that anyone else would react well to it.

"No. I killed him,"

"You...what?" James asked, "How? Why?"

"Bombarda Maxima," Lydia said, indifferently.

Everyone was staring at her. "I don't really have time for a lesson in morals. He killed my dad. What was I going to do? Sit down and have a chat with him about how murder is wrong?"

The door opened and Lydia moved backwards as Mr and Mrs Weasley and Fleur ran into the dormitory.

"I'm-I need a moment," Lydia whispered, walking out of the room. No one tried to shout her back, not that it would make any difference anyway.

It was almost two o'clock in the morning now, but Lydia didn't feel tired. She slowly sank to the floor halfway down a staircase. There was no one around. Harry had been right about Snape and Malfoy all along. They had been up to something. Lydia wished that she had taken him more seriously and had done more than just shout at him all the time.

Footsteps behind her announced someone's arrival, she looked around. It was George. He sat down next to her. Now that they were alone, Lydia allowed herself to start crying. She wasn't particularly upset about Professor Dumbledore's death. She had never regarded him in the same light as Harry did. She was crying because the reality of her future had just sank in. There was no avoiding it now. There was no avoiding the fact that she would have to go after Lord Voldemort. She would just have to accept the fact that she was nothing more than a disposable soldier.

"George-"

"I know," He said, "I know what you're going to say and I don't want to hear you say it. Not yet, anyway. I just want to hold onto whatever this is for a little while longer,


	15. Do What is Necesarry

_**"Death never takes a wise man by surprise;**_

 _ **he is always ready to go,"**_

 ** _-Jean de la Fontaine_**

Dumbledore's death shocked the whole school. Classes were cancelled and exams postponed. No one seemed to know what to do with themselves, Lydia least of all. She didn't know how Harry was dealing with everything for she had taken ignoring everyone to a whole new level. She spent her time between locking herself in the common room and visiting her dad. Madam Pomfrey had mended him with a flick of her wand, but the actual spell seemed to have left some sort of lasting effect on him; he was constantly tired and had very little energy. There were a few times where he had actually fell asleep halfway through their conversation on a fair few occasions.

It was not only Lydia who was ignoring people, but the whole school. Everyone seemed to be ignoring her, not that Lydia blamed them. The old rumours that she was a Dark Witch swirled around the school again, though this time there was actual concrete evidence that wasn't just, 'she's in Slytherin, she must be!'. This time, they could talk about the violent way that Lydia Potter had murdered a Death Eater. They could talk about the way that she broke all the bones in his body before blowing him up. Only a Dark Witch would do that, they said, not someone who was fighting for us.

"You know who wouldn't do that?" A fifth year Ravenclaw said to her friends as Lydia walked past them trying to get to James' office, "Harry Potter. Whatever happened the night You-Know-Who tried to kill them, something went wrong with Lydia. Maybe it sent her mad,'

"Piss off," Lydia snapped.

The Ravenclaws all jumped and drew their wands. Lydia rolled her eyes at them and stomped off. When she got to James' office on the day before Dumbledore's funeral. Completely forgetting about the headache that James probably had, she slammed the door shut behind her. James made a shushing noise from the couch he was sat on and Lydia whispered her apology as she dropped onto the seat next to him and tried her best to not start crying. She really didn't like crying. It was her least favourite thing in the whole word.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"Nothing,"

"Then why are you crying?"

"There's something in my eye,"

"That 'something in your eye' is what most of us call, emotions,".

Lydia laughed and shook her head, wiping her eyes. James put his arm around her shoulders and gave her the sort of look that said, "you're not getting away until you start speaking,". Fabio crawled out of her pocket and over to her James, curling up in his hands.

"I just wish people would leave me alone," Lydia said, "I wish none of this ever happened. I wish I was just some random Hogwarts student who didn't have to worry about Lord Voldemort and the fact that I could be dead in a year,"

"You won't be dead in a year," James said, "Don't say that,"

"That's what everyone's saying. I'm either going to be dead or Voldemort's second in command," Lydia shrugged, "did you know that I'm a Dark Witch? You know, yesterday, I actually heard someone say that they don't believe I'm your daughter because I'm so awful and you're so nice. How could the daughter of James and Lily Potter be in Slytherin?"

"You're not a bad person, Lyds,"

"Am I not? You know what I did to that Death Eater! Even George was looking at me like I was crazy!"

"I see a lot of your mother in you," James said, speaking very quietly, "Really," he added, when he saw the look on her face, "You have her mannerisms. You're both terrifying when you're angry. You're as kind as she was. You know who she was always really nice to? Pete. She was kinder to Peter Pettigrew than any of the rest of us were. She was always the person who'd stay up with him in the library or the common room to help him with a spell or essay when the rest of us got frustrated with him. And Remus told me about what you were like in third with Neville Longbottom. He said you always helped him with Transfiguration,"

"Neville is my friend,"

"Yeah, and Pete was ours. He was our best friend. And we left him behind. And for a kid who probably feels left behind all the time, the fact that Lydia Potter of all people helps him, will mean the world. You're stopping him from becoming the next Peter Pettigrew,"

"I feel terrible," Lydia whispered, tears streaming down her face, "because I don't regret what I did. I don't feel sorry for that Death Eater. All I can think of is...one less Death Eater in the world. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No," he said, "that makes you a normal person. He would have just tried to kill you. We're fighting a war, Lydia, none of the same rules apply,"

James fell asleep again soon after this leaving Lydia alone with her thoughts, which was always a recipe for disaster. She stared into the unlit fireplace and let her thoughts run away with themselves. She thought about Dumbledore, and how she did not feel upset that he was dad. She was shocked that he was dead because he seemed like the type of person who could never die, but she had no tears for him. Any tears she did cry was for the broken remains of the Potter family. Lydia had now accepted her fate. She had accepted the fact that she wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts the next year for there were Horcruxes out there and Harry could not go alone.

Lydia thought about the Horcruxes a lot. She wondered what they could be and, more importantly, where they could be. She sat and watched Fabio snoring slightly, fiddling with the necklace that James had bought her for her birthday and wondered what it was like to live a quiet life. From the limited information that Lydia had about Horcruxes, she had come to the conclusion that Horcruxes could be anything and the world had never seemed so big.

On the morning of Dumbledore's funeral, Lydia followed the rest of Slytherin house into the Great Hall. She sat at the very end of the table and looked around. So much seemed to have changed. Crabbe and Goyle, massive though they were, looked quite small without Draco Malfoy sat between them. Professor Snape's chair at the staff table had been filled by Rufus Scrimgeour, who's eyes were sweeping the great hall and Lydia was sure that he was looking for her and Harry. Hagrid was also missing and Lydia assumed that it was because he wouldn't be able to face breakfast. The Headmaster's chair had been left empty.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and stood up, "Ravenclaws, follow Professor Flitwick, Hufflepuffs follow Professor Sprout, Slytherins you are with Professor Slughorn and Gryffindors you are with me,"

Professor Slughorn walked down the table and began herding his students outside. Lydia fiddled with her robes as she followed Daphne and Astoria Greengrass out into the grounds where rows and rows of chairs had been set up. A small wizard stood at the front of them, looking very somber. Lydia glanced at the back of the Professor Slughorn's head and, trusting that he would not miss her in the crowd of Slytherins, Lydia backed away from them. She blended in with the Ravenclaws and then forced her way into the Gryffindors. She was quite sure that Professor McGonagall saw her, but the now Headmistress said nothing and Lydia carried on, looking for the Weasley's.

She finally spotted them and hurried over, grabbing George's hand.

"Come on, I can't - oh, sorry, Fred," she said, actually grabbing George's hand this time, "I can't tell you apart from the back,"

"You know there's a funeral going on," George said as Lydia dragged him away.

"I know, and I can't deal with that right now,"

He didn't argue back. They walked around the edge of the lake and ended up near the Whomping Willow, where they could no longer see the funeral properly. Lydia was quite happy to be as far away from the funeral as possible. They sat under the the shade of the trees of the Forbidden Forest. For the first time in her life, the Forbidden Forest wasn't scary. She would much rather live in the Forbidden Forest for the rest of her life than go on and do whatever she would have to do in the coming months. George still wasn't ready to talk about the future, and Lydia was quite happy to oblige for as long as humanly possible. More importantly though, Lydia wasn't sure she had a future to talk about.

When she entered her first year of Hogwarts, she never gave one thought to what she would do once she left. After all, seven years was a long time and she had only just discovered that magic existed. In her second year at Hogwarts, the only thing she wanted to do was get as far away from Gilderoy Lockhart as possible and, if she could, she would happily make a career out of it. After leaving Professor Lupin's first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, she genuinely thought that she might one day become a teacher one day. Strangely enough, it was a Death Eater who had first planted the idea of being an Auror into her head. She had carried that thought all the way into her fifth year and had quickly turned on the idea when she realised how awful the Ministry really were and the DA had made her discover a passion for teaching.

She couldn't lie and say that she hadn't thought about being a Quidditch player that year. She didn't think she was actually that good, but it was nice to daydream. She often thought back to the Quidditch World Cup and imagined herself flying around the pitch with the England Quidditch team. It would never happen, really, but it was nice to escape to a fantasy world for a few minutes. A fantasy world where Dark Wizards and Horcruxes weren't constantly on her mind.

"I think the funerals over," George said, breaking the silence.

"Before we go," Lydia said, turning to him, "we need to talk,"

George nodded and turned to look at her.

I know I said I wasn't going to go after him but-"

"I know," George said quickly, "I know,"

"George, I might not survive this,"

"I might not, either," He said, far too casually, "Harry might not. McGonagall might not. Nothing is guaranteed apart from the simple fact that we might not survive,"

Lydia nodded.

"If he kills me-"

"You don't need to say anything, Lyds. I already know,"

"I know it'd probably be safer to break up but I just can't. I don't have it in me,"

"Neither do I," he admitted.

Lydia shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes again, "But they might come after you. He might come after you-"

"Let him come,"

And Lydia knew that he was being serious.

"I wish the most stressful thing in my life was still just the fact that I'd been sorted into Slytherin and not Gryffindor," Lydia sighed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, it's still the most stressful thing in my life," George said.

Lydia laughed.

"Come on," He said, "We need to get back before people notice we're missing,"

Lydia nodded and stood up, brushing all the dirt off her dress robes. They snuck back into the retreating crowd, acting as though they had been there the entire time. Lydia didn't think that anyone would notice they weren't there. James, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were walking just a little way in front of her. Lydia didn't really want to speak to them, but George grabbed her hand and made a beeline for them. Thankfully, Harry and Ginny walked away from Ron and Hermione and Lydia didn't have to deal with trying to speak to her brother.

"Everything OK?" George asked.

"Splendid," Hermione said. She looked at Lydia, "Ready for tomorrow?"

Lydia winced. The Hogwarts Express would be picking them up the next day. The thought of going back to the Dursleys after everything seemed like the worst plan in the world.

"I'll get through it,"

The four of them stood there for a while, talking about nonsense. No one wanted to talk about anything of importance for everything of importance was alarmingly depressing and possibly life threatening. Finally, Harry walked over to them, without Ginny. Lydia looked at her brother and knew what he had done.

"I better get going. I'll see you tomorrow," George said. He kissed Lydia, waved at the others and hurried to join the rest of the Weasleys.

Silently, they turned their back on the castle and walked around the grounds. Lydia stared at the floor as she walked, her arms wrapped around herself. It was strange, walking the grounds with them now. Lydia had done it countless times over her years at Hogwarts, and now, she felt as though she didn't know what to say to them. So much had happened, yet there were no amount of words that could adequately cover how they all felt.

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly, coming to a halt. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned around to look at her. "I'm sorry for being such a prat all year. I've been annoying and bitchy and I haven't been there for any of you when I should have been,"

"Lydia-"

"No, Harry, shut up, I'm being a nice person," she took a deep breath, "This year has been ridiculously hard on all four of us and I haven't helped in the slightest but the three of you have tried to help. And I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry,"

"You don't need to apologise to me or Ron," Hermione said quickly, "But, I think you and Harry need to talk,"

Ron smiled nervously at them both and followed Hermione back up to the castle. Lydia glanced at Harry and quickly looked away. James stood in between them, gripping onto a tree and looking as though he was about to collapse. Harry held onto his elbow as he slowly sank to the ground, leaning back against the tree with his eyes closed.

"I don't want you to apologise," Harry said, "I've not been sibling of the year, either,"

Lydia snorted and nodded her head. "We've been the worst, actually," They lapsed into silence again as they sat under the shade of a tree. "So...did you find it? The Horcrux again?"

Harry nodded and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a thick, golden locket. He dropped it into her hands and she looked at it. It was decorated with an ornate green 'S,'. Lydia frowned at it.

"Is this-"

"Slytherins? Yes," Harry said, "I think he wanted something of all the founders of Hogwarts,"

Lydia nodded, "Is this actually one of them?"

"Open it,"

She opened it and a note fell out.

" _To the Dark Lord,_

 _I know I will be dead long before you read this_

 _But I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret._

 _I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can._

 _I face death in the hope that when you meet your match,_

 _You will be mortal once more._

 _-R.A.B_ "

"It's not the real locket,"

"No,"

"He died for nothing,"

"Yes,"

"What happens now then?" James asked, looking over at them, "Do I just wave you off on a trip you might not come back from?"

Lydia nodded, "Basically,"

"You know I can't do that," James said, quietly.

"You're going to have to," Harry said, "We have to win this war, don't we?"

"Adults have to win this war, son, not two sixteen year olds," James said.

"Dad," Harry sighed, "We have to do this, and we have to do it alone,"

"Fine," James said, "but promise me that you'll keep in touch through the mirror,"

"Of course," Lydia said, "I promise,"

After a while, they started to walk back to the castle. Lydia wondered if she would ever see it again, or if it would ever be the same with Professor Dumbledore. She wondered if she would ever be the same after everything that had happened.

"Harry! Lydia!"

They turned round and came face to face with Rufus Scrimgeour. Lydia resisted the urge to tell him to fuck off and instead decided to do the slightly politer thing and just glare at him.

"You both must be devastated...Dumbledore...my deepest condolences," He said soberly.

"What do you want?" Harry asked.

"Word is is that you were on the tower with him, the night he died," Scrimgeour said, "There were two broomsticks, Harry. The Ministry can put two and two together,"

"Nice to know," said Lydia.

Scrimgeour turned to look at Lydia, "And I heard about what you did to that Death Eater...you have the making of an Auror-"

"I don't think you'll ever find me working for your Ministry, Minister," Lydia said.

"James, you were once an Auror-"

"There's no point in finishing that sentence, Minister. My answer is no,"

"I think it would be in our best interests to know what you and Dumbledore were doing, Harry," Scrimgeour said, clearly accepting that neither Lydia or James would want to speak to him.

"I'm never going to tell you, Minister," Harry said shortly.

"I see, so you're still Dumbledore's man-"

"Through and through, yeah,"

"And you, Lydia?"

"I stand with my brother, Minister, through anything,"

—-

Lydia sat in the deserted Slytherin Common Room, taking it in for one last time. She had had a funny relationship with this room, but even she had to admit that there were days when there was no place else she would rather be. There was something strangely comforting about the morbidity of the whole place. And although she had never gotten on with most of the other Slytherins, it was nice to be surrounded by people who probably understood the reasons behind Lydia's actions more so than maybe her closest friends. It was then that Lydia realised that the Death Eater she killed could easily have been a relative of one of her fellow Slytherins.

"You okay?"

Lydia looked up, it was Daphne.

"I'm fine," she said.

"You're crying,"

"Is that illegal?" Lydia snapped. She sighed, "Sorry. I don't mean to be a bitch I just...am,"

"Me too," Daphne said, sitting down next to her, "I just came to say goodbye. I won't be seeing you next year, will I?"

"How do you-"

"I've lived with you for six years, Lydia. You always do the right thing even if it's the scary thing. Only you and Harry would go after him," Daphne shrugged, "Even if it terrifies you. You're the bravest person I know,"

"I wish we'd become friends earlier," Lydia sighed.

Daphne shook her head, "I got sucked into Pansy Parkinson and her gang. You would have just cursed me all the time. You were always a better person than I was,"

"That's not true," Lydia scoffed.

"You're not a Dark Witch, Lydia," Daphne said, softly. "Even if that's what everyone else is saying,"

"What I did to that Death Eater-"

"Do you remember what that Prefect told us our first night here?" Daphne asked her.

"No,"

"She told us the Slytherin motto - 'Do what is necessary,'" Daphne reminded her, "you did what he you had to do,"

"Yeah..." Lydia said, quietly, "but, the way I did it..."

"You're just very Slytherin," Daphne said, "We value family very highly. If someone tried to hurt my sister..." She trailed off as a dark look overcame her face. "Anyway, we should go and get on the train..."

The train ride home was a very quiet one. Lydia, Harry Ron and Hermione got a compartment on their own. No one spoke much. Lydia sat and stared out of the window, watching the countryside roll by and wondered what was ahead of them. They were close to Kings Cross now, and Lydia had never been dreading going back to the Privet Drive as much as she was now. Hermione was pouring over a book, Ron was playing with Fabio and Harry was eyeing a Golden Snitch that was flying around the compartment.

"You don't have to come with us," Harry said, breaking the silence.

Lydia turned to the others, her eyebrows raised.

"Harry..." Hermione said, sighing, "Of course we're coming with you,"

Ron nodded, "You're not doing it alone,"

"It's going to be completely different to anything we've ever done before," Lydia said.

"We're with you both through everything," Hermione said, firmly, "and that's the end of that,"


	16. The Eight Potters

_**"Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron,**_

 _ **both defiles and consumes it,**_

 _ **gnawing and creeping into it,**_

 _ **as that does which at last eats out the**_

 _ **very heart and substance of the metal,"**_

 _ **-Robert South**_

Lydia Potter woke up on her final day at the Dursleys after years of feeling like the day would never come. She sat cross legged on her bed, looking around at the room she had spent so many years hating. Fabio was sleeping next to her. Neither Uncle Vernon nor Aunt Petunia were aware that Fabio existed, and she was more than happy to keep it that way. Though there had been a strange moment with Dudley the previous day.

She had gone down to the kitchen in what she had assumed was an empty house and found Dudley stood eating cereal. Lydia had screamed and almost dropped Fabio on the floor. She glared at him as though he didn't have a right to eat cereal in his own house.

"Is that a Pom-Pom?" Dudley asked, pointing at Fabio.

"No, it's Fabio," she said bluntly.

At that moment, Harry had burst into the room, wand out.

"Death Eaters?" He asked.

"No. Dudley,"

"Oh," he said. He stuck is wand back in his pocket. "Hi Fabio," he added, stroking the Pygmy Puff, who squeaked happily.

Dudley yelled and jumped backwards, spilling cereal all down himself. "It's alive?"

"It's a Pygmy Puff," Lydia explained, "George got him me,"

Dudley blinked at them stupidly. "George?"

"My boyfriend," She said. "He owns a - you know what? It doesn't matter," she crossed the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for something to feed to him. Finally, she settled on some lettuce and Fabio sat on her shoulder, happily munching on it and looking at Dudley, who looked like he was going to collapse.

Harry cleared his throat and awkwardly leant back against the wall. It was then that Lydia realised that she and Harry had not been alone with Dudley in a long time. In fact, she was quite sure that they never had been.

"So - um, your dad is alive-"

"Yeah," Lydia said.

They stood staring at each other in silence.

"That's nice," Dudley said, awkwardly.

Harry clapped his hands together, "Right, well, this has been weird. I'm leaving,"

"Right behind you,"

She heard the door open and close downstairs and jumped off her bed, looking out of her window. She watched as the Dursley's packed their car, feeling a strange emotion that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't that she would miss them, because she knew for a fact that she wouldn't but this was where she had lived her entire life. Before he got into the car, Dudley turned around and looked up at the house. For a moment, they stood staring at each other and then he waved, and, even stranger, Lydia waved back. And then they were gone.

There was a gentle knock on her bedroom door and Harry walked in. He ran and hand through his hair and tried to smile at her.

"Are you ready?"

No.

"Yeah," she said, picking her bag off the floor and following him downstairs.

The house was eerily quiet. Usually, Lydia was used to hearing the sounds of Petunia pottering around in the kitchen and Uncle Vernon shouting down the phone at one of his new employees whilst Dudley crashed around his bedroom. Harry whistled as he moved around the house and packed and re-packed his bag at least five times. Hedwig watched him from her cage and Fabio had fallen asleep on her shoulder, and Lydia was sure that he was snoring.

Now, more than ever, Lydia wished that she had her dad to talk to, but they had not been able to contact him all summer. Horcruxes plagued her nightmares, they were all she could think about. That, an whoever R.A.B was. Lydia had done what Hermione would do in a time of great crisis and gone through every book she owned trying to decipher who it could be, but there was no name in any history book or Defence Against the Dark Arts book that matched the initials 'R.A.B'. Harry hadn't done any research and had instead taken to reading the obituary that Elphias Doge had written about Dumbledore over and over again.

There were days when she woke up and couldn't get out of bed because even that was too painful. Those were the worse days; they were the days when she wondered if any of this was worth it. Was hunting Horcruxes the right thing to do? What if Dumbledore had got it wrong? What if the Horcruxes didn't make killing Voldemort any easier? What would they do then? Lydia had yet to grieve for Albus Dumbledore, and she wasn't sure that she ever would. Harry looked at him like he was a hero, but Lydia saw him as quite the opposite; he was the greatest wizard to ever live, he shouldn't have been able to be killed by Severus Snape. He should have known what was going to happen and stopped it before it was too late. And, more importantly, Lydia thought, if he had known that Lydia would have had to go and find this Horcruxes with Harry, why hadn't he forced her to realise this? During her previous year at Hogwarts, he had spoken to her a grand total of two times and had managed to put her in a bad mood both times.

A deafening roar from the back garden rent the silence and Lydia jerked backwards, hitting her head against the wall. Harry glanced at Lydia and then ran into the kitchen, opening the back door. She looked over and a wide grin split across her face. Hagrid came in first, cowering under the low door frame. Following Hagrid came Mad-Eye Moody, magical eye whizzing all over the place. Fred and George came next, followed by Mr Weasley and Ron, who seemed to be glaring at the back of the twins heads. Hermione beamed at her from the door and stood next to Bill and Fleur. Remus, Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mundungus Fletcher took up the rear, shutting the door behind them. Finally, James walked into the kitchen and Lydia and Harry hurried over to him.

"Alright, kids?" He asked.

"Are you?" Lydia asked, "Are you feeling better?"

"No longer falling asleep every fifteen minutes," he beamed.

"I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister, Kingsley?" Harry called across the room.

"He can look after himself for one night. Now, you two are the most important," he replied.

"Hey, Lydia, guess what!" Tonks said from where she was sat on the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at her where a ring glittered.

"You're married?" Lydia yelped, looking over at Lupin.

"We would have loved you and Harry to be there, but it was very quiet and-"

"We'll have time for a cosey catch up later!" Mad-Eye barked.

Lydia looked over at Mad-Eye, "I didn't think there were going to be so many of you. I thought it was just you and Remus coming over to take us to The Burrow by side-along Apparition,"

"That was the plan," Mad-Eye growled, "Pius Thicknesse has gone over and he's made it an imprisonable offence to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, of course, seeing as your mother's charm stops that already. What he's really done is stop you getting out of here safely-"

"Why don't we just walk down the street and then Apparate from there then?" Lydia asked.

Mad-Eye glared at her, "You're both underage. You still have the Trace on you. If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse will know, and so will the Death Eaters,"

"Can't we just wait till we're seventeen? It's only in a week-"

"No, because that's when they think we're moving you. Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper,"

"Right," Lydia said quietly, folding her arm. "So the plan is..."

"To get you both out of here using the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use of on them: brooms, Thestrals and Hagrid's motorbike," He explained, "Your mother's charm will only break under two conditions; when you come or age, or, when you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle went your separate ways tonight in the full understanding hat you're never going to live together again, correct?"

Lydia and Harry nodded.

"So this time when you leave, there's no going back and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. The alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and kill you the moment you turn seventeen,"

"Lovely," Lydia said, "This should be fun."

"I imagine they'll be some Death Eaters patrolling the the skies so we have a dozen different houses to go to - Kingsley's place, my house, Molly's Auntie Muriel's house - you get the idea. Lydia, you'll be going to the Weasley's Uncle Jamie's and Harry you'll be going to Tonks' parents house,"

"Yeah," Harry said slowly, "But, won't they know which one we're going to because they'll just have to follow us?"

"No," said Moody, "Because they'll be more than one Harry and Lydia Potter flying tonight and each one will be going somewhere different," He pulled two flasks of what looked like mud from his robes and Lydia automatically recognised what it was was from her second year.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lydia said.

"No! No way!" Harry said.

"None of us really fancy it, Harry," Fred said, "What if we get stuck as a specky, scrawny git forever?"

"I won't let you do it!" Harry snapped.

"I told you he'd take it well," Hermione sighed.

"I don't want you to risk your lives for me-"

Ron gave an odd cough which sounded an awful lot like "McGonagall's chess game,".

"You can't do it I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair," Harry pointed out.

"Well, that's the plan scuppered," said George, "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate,"

"Yeah, all of us against once bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," Fred said.

"You'll notice your sister isn't complaining, Potter," Mad-Eye growled.

Lydia looked up and shrugged, "I just assumed there's no getting out of it,"

"Fred, George, Ron and Mundungus will be turning into Harry-"

"Do I not exist anymore?" Lydia asked.

"Only Fleur and Hermione will be turning into you," Mad-Eye said, "After your previous school year, You-Know-Who won't expect you to be together,"

Lydia raised her eyebrows, "Oh," She turned to Harry and shrugged, "Honestly, we don't have a choice. You might as well get over it,"

He glared at her and then tore pieces of hair from his scalp. Lydia smiled at him and then did the same thing, dropping the hair into the Polyjuice potion. It bubbled for a moment and then turned a pleasant white colour.

"Oooh, Lydia, you look much tastier than Millicent Bulstrode!" Hermione said brightly.

"I can account for-" George began but Lydia cut across him.

"Other people present!"

George glanced at Mr Weasley, "Sorry, dad,"

"I didn't hear anything, George," Mr Weasley said.

James was stood with his fingers in his ears.

It was a very strange sight, watching Fleur and Hermione turn into her. They both grew taller, and Fleur's skin and hair went darker. By the time they had finished turning into her, Lydia decided that she never wanted to do anything like this again. Mad-Eye handed them a bunch of clothes.

"Get changed," He said, and then he turned to the others and held out the Polyjuice Potion.

Lydia turned back round to Fleur and Hermione and realised that they were getting changed in front of everyone. At first, she didn't mind, but then she remembered that they were identical to her and suddenly felt very insecure.

"Hey! Could you two give me a bit more privacy - George! Stop looking at Hermione!"

"Sorry! But she looks like you!"

Once everyone had turned into Harry and Lydia couldn't even remember if she was the real Lydia Potter or not, Mad-Eye looked over the group, "All right. We'll all be pairing up with someone - Ron, you're with Tonks. Fred, you're with your dad, George, you're with Remus, Fleur, you're with Bill-" Fleur gave Bill a look that Lydia hoped would never be on her face again, "Hermione, you're with Kingsey, Mundungus, you're with me, Harry is with Hagrid and Lydia you are with your father,"

"Isn't that obvious?" Lydia asked.

James shook his head, "Nah, we'll be fine. Probably,"

Lydia turned to George. "I think I'm going to die tonight,"

"That's how we all feel spending time with you," he shrugged. Remus called him over and he leant towards her. Lydia yelped and jumped back.

"What are you doing?"

"Kissing you,"

"No, you're not! You look like my brother,"

A look of disgust overcame his face and he jerked away from her. "This is the worst plan ever," and he stomped away.

In the back garden, brooms were flying into hands and Hermione was being helped onto a Thestrals by Kingsley. Lydia sniggered as Harry clambered into a tiny sidecar attached to Hagrid's flying motorbike. James was stood next to a Thestral and looked far too happy about it. If possible, her confidence plummeted even further than it had since Mad-Eye had told them what was quite a terrible plan.

"All right," Mad-Eye yelled over the sound of the Hagrid's motorbike, "Everyone ready, please, we need to leave at the same time or the whole point of the diversion is lost,"

"Do you want me to take Fabio? There's food he'll like in my pocket," James said, holding his hand out. Lydia decided not to ask why he had food in his pocket and instead just handed Fabio over to him. As though he could read her mind he said, "I planned ahead,"

"On the count of three! One, two, three-"

The motorbike gave a deafening roar and the Thestral spread its wings and took off from the ground. Lydia screamed and grabbed James around the waist, screwing her eyes shut and deciding that she only ever wanted to ride brooms from this moment on. For thirty seconds, nothing happened, and then they were surrounded.

Cloaked figures rose up around them on broomsticks. Killing curses flew around them and Lydia ducked under them, trying to get her wand out of her jeans. More and more curses soared over them and her wand somehow managed to get stuck in her belt loop. The Thestral suddenly dived and Lydia finally managed to pull her wand out of her jeans.

"Stupefy!" She yelled. The curse completely missed the Death Eater but it did cause them to fall back out of fear. Another Death Eater appeared behind her and she felt a white hot burning sensation as a spell streaked past her face. In front of her, James groaned as more and more Death Eaters surrounded them.

"Immobulus!" Lydia said, as a Death Eater raised his wand, "Protego!"

James swore as a Death Eater actually reached out and grabbed his arm. Lydia shifted forward and looked over his shoulder, shouting the first spell that came to mind, "Difindo!" The Death Eater yelled out and flew away from them, holding his arm to his chest.

"Did I get you?" Lydia asked James.

"No!" He yelled, he looked around, "Where've they all gone?"

Lydia opened her mouth to respond but there was a searing pain in her forehead. Knowing exactly what was happening, she turned to her left and looked into the red eyes of Lord Voldemort, he wasn't flying on a broom or even a Thestral. There just seemed to be a cloud of grey smoke underneath him. James swore again and reached for his wand.

Before either of them could cast the first spell, the Thestral went into another deep dive and Lord Voldemort suddenly disappeared. They landed gently in a small garden. Lydia slid off the Thestral and stumbled slightly, looking around and expecting Lord Voldemort to emerge from the shadows, but no one came. James jumped down from the Thestral and looked over at the bungalow attached to the garden. A light switched on and the back door was thrown open.

At first, Lydia thought that it was Ron, but then she blinked and realised that it couldn't be Ron because this man was in his late thirties, and not nearly as freckly. James let out a sigh of relief and walked towards him. Lydia hung back slightly, still gripping her wand tightly and looking around. Why had Voldemort backed away? That wasn't the sort of thing that he would do.

"Are you OK?" Not-Ron asked.

"Fine," James sighed. He glanced back round at Lydia, "Don't worry, Lydia. He's not going to be able to get to us,"

"Yeah," Lydia said quietly, "I know, but I don't understand why he didn't just kill me straight away. That's what he usually does," she shoved her wand back in her jeans.

"I'm Jamie, by the way," he said, rushing forward to shake her hand, "The Order of the Phoenix have put every single protection possible on this house. There's no way any of them can get in. Even You-Know-Who."

"Nice to meet you," Lydia said, forcing a smile onto her face and following him and James into the house. It was very cosy, but Lydia didn't take much notice. Lydia was still expecting Lord Voldemort to appear out of nowhere.

"Where's the Portkey?" James asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Jamie indicated a broken bowl on the side. "You're early, though. You still have ten minutes,"

James nodded and reached into his pocket, taking Fabio out. Amazingly, he was asleep peacefully. Lydia took him and placed him back on her shoulder. Jamie looked at Fabio and laughed slightly.

"Fred and George?"

"Yep," Lydia said, yawning, "It's a Pygmy Puff,"

"Cute," Jamie said, "Does anyone want food?"

Lydia gratefully accepted a sandwich off Jamie and ate it in silence. Every noise made her jump and twice, she mistook Fabio's sleepy squeaks as the sound of the front door opening, and Voldemort coming in.

"Portkeys ready," James said suddenly.

Lydia jumped up at once and all fears of Voldemort disappeared, only to be replaced with fears of the others. Were they OK? Were they alive? Had Voldemort mistook one of the fake Harry or Lydia's for the real one? If he had done that, and someone was dead because of them, she wasn't sure that she would ever be able to forgive herself.

She took Fabio off her shoulder and held onto him tightly before grabbing ahold of the broken bowl. She turned around to Jamie.

"Thank-you for the food,"

"No problem," He said, "I'll see you both at the wedding,"

There was a jerk around her navel and Lydia's feet left the ground for a moment before she landed in the front garden of The Burrow. Lydia dropped the bowl to the floor and looked up at the house, automatically she felt herself begin to calm down. She often felt that nothing could hurt them under the protection of Mrs Weasley's cooking.

"Lydia! You're back!" Hermione yelled, running over to her.

"'Mione, you're ok-OUCH!" Someone grabbed her shoulder and yanked her away from Hermione. She spun around and came face to face with Remus Lupin who was pointing his wand at her chest. "Remus? What are you-where's George?"

"When Lydia Potter had a drink with me in my study, what did we talk about?" He asked.

"What?"

"What did we talk about it?" He asked.

"Um-I don't know, I was thirteen!" When he prodded her with his wand, she realised how serious he was, "All right! We talked about why I got sorted into Slytherin, didn't we?"

Finally, Remus put his wand down and sighed. "I'm sorry, I had to check. Someone betrayed us, tonight,"

"And it wasn't going to be me, was it?" She snapped. She looked around again, "Where's George?"

Remus opened his mouth and closed it again.

Lydia took a step towards him. "Remus. Where is he?"

"He's inside," Hermione said in a small voice, "Oh, Lydia..."

"He's not...no, Hermione, don't tell me he's..."

"No, no," she said quickly, "No, he's...oh, Lydia, it's awful! He's lost an ear,"

"He's lost a-" Lydia faltered.

Hermione grabbed her hand and pulled her into the living room. George was lay on one of the couches with Mrs Weasley bent over him, her wand out, sobbing quietly. Ginny was stood in the corner, her hand over her mouth. Ever so slowly, Lydia walked over to him and it took every bone in her body to not throw up. There was a gaping hole in the left side of his head and blood was pouring down his face and onto his t-shirt.

"Georgie," Lydia whispered, crouching down at the couch.

He opened his eyes and smiled, "Oh, hi, Lydia," he croaked, "you are my Lydia, aren't you?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Your Lydia,"

He smiled again, "I only have one ear,"

"Yeah," Lydia agreed, unsure of what else to say, "You only have one ear,"

"I'm a one-eared wonder,"

"That's not even a proper joke," she said.

"Got a proper good one, but I'm saving it for when everyone else comes. You'll see,"

"What happened?" Lydia asked Remus who had come into the room, followed by James who paled at the sight of George.

"It was Snape," He said bitterly, "Sectumsempra,"

Lydia clenched her jaw and tried to stay calm for George's sake, who was still awake and looking up at her. There was sudden banging from the kitchen and then Lydia heard Mr Weasley yell, "I'LL ANSWER YOUR BLOODY QUESTIONS ONCE I SEE MY SON!" As he and Fred burst into the room, Lydia jumped back from the bed.

"What happened?" Fred asked Lydia, looking down at his twin.

"Snape,"

"How're you feeling, Georgie?" Fred asked quietly.

"Saint-like," George whispered.

"What?"

"Saint-like, Fred. I'm Holey," he said, pointing at his ear, "Get it?"

"Pathetic," Fred said, "Out of all the jokes in the world of ear-related humour, you go for Holey ?"

"Harry's back," Mrs Weasley said, looking out of the window

Lydia jumped up and ran into the back garden, throwing herself at Harry who almost fell backwards. James burst into tears at the sight of them both and enveloped them in a massive hug.

"You're alive," Lydia whispered.

"Yeah, very much alive," he whispered back.

"Where's Hedwig?" She asked.

The silence she was met with told her everything.

"Who's blood is that?" Harry asked hurriedly.

"Georges," Lydia explained, "But don't worry," she added, "He lost an ear-"

"He lost an-"

Remus shoved Lydia and James out of the way and pointed his wand at Harry who looked shocked.

"Wha-"

"What creature was sat in the corner of my office the first time Harry Potter visited it?"

Harry look aghast, "A Grindylow, wasn't it?"

Lupin lowered his wand, "I have to check. Someone betrayed us," he looked at Lydia, "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. We were in the air and then we were just surrounded by Death Eaters. I fought most of them off and then Voldemort appeared. Remus, he can-"

"Fly, I know," he said, "We saw him, but then he disappeared. Probably to go after one of you two,"

"Did you see him?" Lydia asked Harry.

"Yeah," he said, "I cast Expelliarmus and then one of the Death Eaters shouted, "it's him! He's the real one!" And he appeared," He paused, "And then this really weird thing happened with my wand. It did magic that I didn't control. It's like...it knew what to do before I did,"

Remus completely disregarded the last bit of what Harry said, "You disarmed someone? Harry! You can't let that become your signature spell! You're easily identifiable that way! Voldemort probably didn't realise that Lydia was the real one because she didn't do what she would normally do!"

"Which is?" Lydia asked.

A dark look suddenly overtook Remus' face. "You've developed a reputation for being quite ruthless. You're the Potter kid who'll kill, if she has to,"

Lydia didn't say anything. James put his arm around her and kissed her temple, though it didn't really make her feel better. She was saved from having to say anything by a cry from Mrs Weasley as Ron and Tonks came back. Ron jumped down from the Thestral just as his hair was turning red again and took the glasses off and dropping them to the floor.

"Is everything OK?" He asked as he hugged Lydia.

"Well, George lost an ear,"

Ron looked at her as if he couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"He lost a what?"

"An ear," Hermione said, "Snape's work, but he's-"

Mrs Weasley cried again as Bill and Fleur arrived, both looking shaken. Lydia looked around at everyone assembled in the garden and realised that Mad-Eye and Mundungus were missing.

"Mad-Eye's dead," Bill said.

Fleur sobbed quietly and Tonks turned away from them all. Lydia knew that she and Mad-Eye were close and that she looked up to him. When Tonks was training to be an Auror, she had worked closely with him. Slowly, they walked back into the house where Fred and Mr Weasley were still stood with George. Ron looked at his brother and looked away immediately after.

"Hey, Ron, Bill...want to hear a-"

"Mad-Eyes dead,"

Mr Weasley sank into a chair, his head in his hands. Fred looked at the floor. No one seemed to know what to say. Hagrid stood hunched behind the couch, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Where's Mundungus?" Kingsley asked.

"Ran off," Bill said nastily, "He saw You-Know-Who and ran. Mad-Eye got a killing curse full in the face and fell from his broom,"

Lydia sat herself down next to Ginny, who was staring at Harry. Mrs Weasley bustled into the kitchen and brought out a bottle of Fire-Whiskey, and poured a glass for each of them.

"To Mad-Eye," Remus said, holding up his glass.

"Mad-Eye," they all echoed, though Hagrid did so a little later and with a slight hiccup.

She drank the Fire-Whiskey and the burning sensation it left seemed to open her eyes to how serious everything had just gotten. Mad-Eye didn't seem like the kind of person that could ever die. Lydia looked over at George, still covered in blood and looking deathly pale and then at Tonks, who was still crying. All of this, had been because of her and Harry.

"Don't go blaming yourself," Ginny said quietly.

"What?" Lydia said, looking at her.

"I know what you're like, what you're both like," she added, looking over at Harry, "you're going to try and blame yourselves for what happened tonight and it's not your fault. All of this is so much bigger than you, so much bigger than all of us. Everyone here knew what they were getting themselves into it,"

"I know, but-"

"There is no but," Ginny said firmly, "this isn't about you. It's about killing You-Know-Who,"

Lydia wished that she could tell Ginny that it was all about them, because killing You-Know-Who was all that they were needed for.


	17. Will and Testament

**_"Yet there be certain times in a young man's life, when, through great sorrow or sin, all the boy in him is burnt and seared away so that he passes at one step to the more sorrowful state of manhood."_**

 ** _Rudyard Kipling_**

 _ **—**_ _ **-**_

The Burrow was the busiest that Lydia had ever seen it. Charlie had come back from Romania to stay for the wedding, and members of the Order were constantly in and out of the back door, relaying depressing information that Lydia feel she could have gone without hearing. On top of all this, Mrs Weasley had gone into overdrive for Fleur's parents were arriving in a few days. Anyone who wasn't a member of the Order were running around in an attempt to make the Burrow look less crazy. Lydia felt comfortable in the bizarreness of the whole place, but Mrs Weasley had obviously decided that the Delacours would not.

The Gnomes were kicked out of the garden, the chickens cooped up and the yard cleaned. Inside, the kitchen was organised, the living room was tidied at the stairs were cleared of everything that was usually kept on them. It was starting to look like a completely different house. If it weren't for the clock that was kept on the mantelpiece showing each member of the family, Lydia would have thought that she was in the wrong place.

The day that the Delacours arrived was possibly the most stressful day of Lydia's life. They were awoken at sunrise by Mrs Weasley and she had them give the house one last clean. Though, Lydia did not get a lot of cleaning done as she had to keep on prodding George in the side to stop him from falling asleep standing up. Fabio wasn't helping things either, he kept on jumping off her shoulder and rolling away from her.

"Potte! Fabio is chewing my shoe again!" Ron yelled.

"Sorry! I can't control him!" Lydia said, turning over and tearing Fabio away from his shoe, "I think I got the one Pygmy Puff that does more than eat and sleep,"

"They're here!" Mrs Weasley cried, running through the kitchen and trying to smooth her robes, "They're here! They're here! Come on, everyone! Outside!"

Ron groaned and followed his mother out of the house and into the front yard. Lydia grabbed George and pulled him after her. Fred hit him round the head to try and wake him up, but it didn't quite have the effect that he had hoped for. James was trying to smooth Harry's hair down whilst Mrs Weasley was telling Ron that he needed to tuck his t-shirt in.

"Lydia, you need to sort out your hair," James said, glancing over at her.

"You more than anyone knows that won't work," she sighed.

"I know but Molly is scaring me," he whispered.

Mr Weasley appeared at the gate of The Burrow laden with luggage and leading a beautiful blonde woman who could only be Fleur's mother. Behind them, a short man with dark hair, who Lydia assumed to be Monsieur Delacour followed them with the now eleven year old Gabrielle Delacour hanging onto his hand.

"Maman! Papa!" Fleur cried, running over to them and hugging them.

"Welcome, welcome!" Mrs Weasley said, going to greet them, "These are our children - Charlie, Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Lydia, James and Hermione," Lydia felt herself go red at being referred to as one of the Weasley children, "Please, do come in, do come in,"

"Did I just get mistaken for a teenager?" James muttered, "I'm in my thirties!"

After many cries of, "after you!" - "no after you!", they eventually made it into the house. As they usually did when new people were introduced into their lives, Harry and Lydia blended into the background as the Delacours were shown around the house. Ron and Hermione managed to get away and sidled over to them.

"I'll be thankful when this wedding is over," he muttered, rubbing his eyes, "It's too stressful for-"

"Ron, could be a dear and tidy your room?" Mrs Weasley asked, "And Hermione, Ginny could do with some help sorting out the wedding gifts," When Ron and Hermione had gone, Mrs Weasley turned to Lydia, "Could you please help Charlie with setting the table outside? There's not enough to room for us to eat inside,"

Mrs Weasley was hellbent on keeping Lydia, Harry, Hermione and Ron apart. It was no secret that the four of them were not planning on returning to Hogwarts for their seventh year, but Mrs Weasley was not happy about it. Both Mr Weasley and Remus had asked Lydia what they were planning on doing, and when she told them it was something that Dumbledore had asked them to, they quickly backed away. Mrs Weasley, on the other hand, wasn't backing away and Lydia was sure that she were keeping them apart so that they couldn't plan anything. James had not mentioned it and so Lydia was assuming that he was pretending that it was not happening.

Surprisingly, the Delacours were a nice addition to The Burrow. Monsieur Delacour had the kind of unending happiness that rivalled even that of Professor Slughorn and Madame Delacour had a knack for household spells that meant that the total amount of chores had dwindled greatly. Gabrielle followed her sister around, talking in rapid fire French.

The day before her and Harry's seventeenth birthday, Lydia had finished cleaning the kitchen, she escaped upstairs to the room that Harry, Ron, Fred and George were sharing. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat cross legged on the floor as though they didn't have one million and three things to do for Mrs Weasley.

"Why are you sorting out books, Hermione?" Lydia asked, watching as she dropped books into different piles.

"I'm packing in case we have to leave at short notice. I packed your bag for you, by the way," she added, dropping a potions book on the left pile.

"I know you like reading, Hermione, but I don't think there's going to be a lot of time for it," Lydia said, sitting next to Harry, "Unless you want to throw books at Death Eaters," she added, "Because even I can get behind that,"

Hermione laughed and shook her head, dropping one last book onto the pile. She grabbed a small beaded bag that Lydia had gotten her the previous Christmas and carefully placed the books inside of it. Harry stared at it open mouthed.

"How are you fitting everything in that?" He asked.

Hermione smiled at him, "It has a undetectable Extension Charm and a Weightlessness Charm on it," she explained, "Lydia got it me for Christmas last year,"

"I got the idea from Fred and George after they put an Extension Charm on Marcus Flint and he fell into his bag and couldn't get out," Lydia shrugged.

"You know, there's not been anything in the Daily Prophet about Mad-Eye dying," Harry said, "I keep on checking but there's been nothing written,"

"Of course there hasn't been anything written," Lydia said, "Mad-Eye isn't the kind of person who would die. If people knew that both he and Dumbledore died within weeks of each other, they'd know how serious everything actually is,"

"Still, you'd think they'd have found a body," Ron said.

Harry shook his head.

"Nah, the Death Eaters probably took care of that," he said grimly, "Probably did the same thing they did to Mr Crouch and transfigured him into a bone or something,"

Hermione suddenly burst into tears. Harry looked shocked and tried to get to her, but they were sat on a camp bed that was very difficult to get off. Ron gave Harry a disgusted look and bounded over to her. He took a dirty handkerchief from his pocket and tapped it with his wand.

"Scourgify!"

Most of the dirt disappeared off it and he smiled, handing it over to her and put his arm around her. Lydia glanced at Harry and raised her eyebrows, but he just shook his head and looked at his hands.

"I'm s-sorry," Hermione said, wiping her eyes, "I just can't believe he's gone,"

"I know," Ron said, "But if he was here, what would he say?"

"C-constant Vigilance?" Hermione said in a quiet voice.

"Exactly!" Ron said.

Hermione smiled at him and quickly jumped up, running over to the corner and picking up a pile of clothes, shaking her head over and over again. Lydia dropped her head onto Harry's shoulder, closing her eyes. Someone knocked on the door and it flew open. Lydia jumped and opened her eyes to find a haggard Mrs Weasley, glaring at them.

"Ronald, you are meant to be helping Fred and George clear the garden," she said, "Hermione, could please help me in the kitchen?" And she left, slamming the door behind her.

Ron turned to Harry and Lydia and scowled at them. "At least you don't have to do anything,"

"Apart from kill the Dark Lord," Lydia yawned.

Harry was silent for a while and Lydia walked around the room, clearing everything up whilst trying to work out how on earth boys could be so messy. If she came across one more pair of dirty socks, she thought she might kill every single one of them the moment she turned seventeen.

"Do you think he was there?" Harry asked, stroking Fabio.

"Who?" Lydia asked, although the she was quite sure who he was talking about.

"Draco," he said, "Do you think he was there when we left Privet Drive?"

Lydia took a long time in folding one of Ron's jumpers, carefully thinking about what she was going to say next.

"I don't know," she said, "You couldn't really tell who any of those Death Eaters were, could you?"

"What if he was killed?" He shook his head, "I don't even know why I care about him. He obviously never cared about me,"

"Harry, I don't think that's true," she said, "When you were together, or whatever, was the happiest I've ever seen him. He was...tolerable,"

Without warning, her brother burst into tears. Lydia sighed and dropped the jumper she was holding, walking over to him. She sat down next to him and held his hand.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Lydia said, "We can talk about something else-"

"I'm so confused," he snapped, "I think I still like Ginny, but we obviously broke up, and I can't stop thinking about him, either,"

"Have you ever considered maybe...swearing off people forever?" Lydia asked.

"That's easy for you to say," he muttered, "You've got George,"

"Yeah, but he's lost an ear," Lydia sighed, "Have you heard how many ear jokes he makes in a two minute span?"

Harry laughed, "He needs to stop saying the one-eared wonder joke. I only laughed at him out of pity because he'd just lost an ear,"

"I couldn't even bring myself to laugh at him out of pity," She sighed, "And that damn bandage..." She groaned, "he doesn't even have to wear it anymore!"

Lydia was woken up on the morning of July 31st by Hermione and Ginny jumping on her and shouting "Happy Birthday!" in her face. She groaned and propped herself up one elbow as the blurry figures of her friends leaned over her.

"You know I can curse you now, right?" Lydia said, grinning.

"And I can curse you back," Hermione said, holding a package in her hands, "Open your present!"

"I said no presents,"

"And I'm your best friend so that rule doesn't apply to me," Hermione shrugged, handing it over to her, "Also, I've had this idea since we were in third year,"

Lydia frowned at her, "Why do I feel like there's a backstory to this?"

"Because there is," Hermione beamed, "Do you remember when we first became friends outside potions? And then you sat next to me in class? What potion did we brew?"

"It was a forgetfulness one, wasn't it?"

"And what did you forget to put in it?"

Lydia grinned and opened the present. Inside, was a small box that contained a hair clip that had what Lydia recognised as Valerian sprigs attached to it. It was a potion lesson that would be ingrained in Lydia's memory forever - she had gotten so caught up in talking to Hermione, that she had barely looked at the blackboard. That had been the first time that Professor Snape had shouted at her, but had not been the last.

"You've had this idea...since you were thirteen?"

Hermione nodded, "I have probably been more excited for you seventeenth birthday than you have,"

Downstairs, Lydia was ambushed by James. She didn't realise it was him at first and almost punched him in the face. Harry appeared moments later and soon, James was sobbing and telling them how proud he was of them. Finally, he let them go and Lydia could breathe again.

"Presents!" He exclaimed, "I got you presents!"

They sat down in the living room and James produced two badly wrapped presents. He handed Harry his first and Harry ripped it open, revealing a box that contained an antique looking watch.

"That was your Grandad Fleamont's," James explained, "its tradition that Wizards get a watch on his seventeenth birthday," he held up his own arm, "my mum and dad gave me this one, and I got that off my dad when he passed and Remus kept it for me when I was...you know...dead,"

Harry seemed to be at a loss of what to say. He was looking at the watch as though he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Instead he just muttered something incomprehensible and hugged James.

"And, uh, Lyds," James said, turning to her and handing over her present, "you're impossible to buy for but...I managed in the end. Well, I didn't, your mum did,"

Heart beating with excitement, Lydia opened the present and almost dropped it. It was a very delicate golden bracelet, on which a single lily hung. Immediately, tears sprang to her eyes and Lydia was very quick to wipe them away.

"She bought that on her seventeenth birthday," James said, quietly. He laughed quietly, "she'd be so proud of the two of you. Really."

How Lydia got through breakfast without crying, she would never know. Harry didn't get through breakfast without crying and had to leave the table halfway through breakfast so that he could go and calm himself down.

"Lydia, could go and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow? I don't think we'll have time today," Mrs Weasley said.

Lydia thanked Mrs Weasley for what had been a lovely breakfast and left the table, taking the stairs two steps at a time. This day was the first time that she hadn't thought about Voldemort or Horcruxes in weeks.

"Lyds," George popped his head out of his bedroom door, "Come here,"

She smiled at him and followed him into the bedroom. Neither Ron nor Harry were anywhere to be seen and she assumed that Harry was still crying somewhere.

"Happy Birthday, Lydia,"

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. She heard footsteps outside the door and she pulled away, but the footsteps carried on. He laughed and glanced at the door.

"Mum'll have a fit if she sees this door shut," he said.

"Providing my dad doesn't first,"

"I got you something for your birthday," he said, "And I know you said you didn't want presents, but you never said that I couldn't not get you anything,"

"You really always find a way to bend the rules, don't you?"

"It's gotten easier as the years have gone on," he glanced at the door again. "And I know that you're going away and that we don't see each other for a while, so I wanted to get you something small but...special," He took a deep breath, "and I don't want you to freak out when you see this. It's not what you think but it's also not not what you think,"

"You're rambling,"

"I know," He took another deep breath and held up a box. He opened it, revealing a small golden ring with a pearl on it.

Automatically, she took a step back from it. It looked like exactly what she thought it was.

"I'm not asking you to marry me," he said quickly, "but I'm also not not asking you to marry me. I know it's only been three years and we've been in school for most of that but...it's now or never, right?" He shook his head, "there's no guarantee that either of us will survive this so, what's the point in waiting? I'd hate if something happened before I could- oh, you think I'm mad, don't you?"

Lydia launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. There was a small clatter as he dropped the box to the floor so he could kiss her back.

"I do think you're mad," she said, "and that is why I'm agreeing to not not marry you, George Weasley,"

He grinned at her and picked the box back up. He gently slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly.

"It's a family heirloom," he explained as she admired it, "mum gave it to me,"

"Your mum knows about this?"

"You know how much she loves a good wedding - and you," he added. He glanced out the window, "if we ever make it to the wedding, we're not having it here,"

"And you're not wearing that ridiculous bandage on your head,"

The door suddenly opened and they sprang apart. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood in the doorway.

"Is that an engagement ring?" Hermione screamed, leaping over Ron's bed and pulling Lydia's hand towards her.

"No but yes," Lydia said, "it's an almost engagement ring,"

Ron burst into laughter and high fived his brother before turning to Lydia, "you're going to be a Weasley!" And then he burst into laughter again. Hermione squealed and hugged her and Lydia already knew that she was thinking about bridesmaids dresses because she herself was already thinking about bridesmaids dressed.

Once Hermione had pulled herself together and Ron had finished laughter, Lydia hesitantly looked over at Harry. He smiled at her and crossed the room, hugging her and whispering, "I'm happy for you, Lyds, I really am," in ear. Lydia hugged him back tighter and tried not to think about how little time they might have left.

George had spoken to her dad before he asked her, but that didn't make Lydia any less apprehensive when she next saw him. George reminded her that he and Lily had barely been out of Hogwarts by the time Lily had fallen pregnant, so he could not complain. James had reacted in the way that he seemed to react to everything; by sobbing.

Later that evening, they held a birthday dinner outside for Lydia and Harry. Hagrid, Tonks and Remus had arrived a day early for the wedding for them. Lydia felt as though she had never been so happy. Mrs Weasley kept on looking at her left hand and crying. It happened so much that Lydia considered hiding her hand for the rest of the dinner.

Hagrid couldn't seem to be able to stop himself from crying, either.

"I can' believe it!" He kept on repeating, "You two! I can' wait fer the weddin'!"

"Do you think they realise we're technically not engaged?" Lydia whispered.

"Just got with it," Charlie said, spooning more food onto her plate, "Mum needs to think there's something on the other side of all this,"

"Aren't you full of all the joys of spring?" Fred said brightly.

Charlie looked at his brother. "It's summer," He said bluntly.

"Oh, Merlin, it's the Minister!" Hermione said, suddenly standing up and pointing.

Lydia's head snapped up and, sure enough, Rufus Scrimgeour was limping over to them. He arrived at the table and his eyes slid over it, coming to rest on the two birthday cakes that sat at the end; one was in the shape of a Snitch, and the other a Quaffle. Lydia felt Harry tense next to her.

"Sorry to intrude, especially as I can see I am intruding on celebrations," he looked at Lydia and Harry, "Happy Birthday,".

"Thank-you," Harry said. Lydia didn't say anything.

"As it happens, I would like a private words with you two-"

"Surprising," Lydia muttered.

"-and Mr Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger,"

Lydia raised her eyebrows and turned to Hermione, "Oh no, wait, that is surprising,"

"What do you want to talk to us for?" Ron asked.

"I shall tell you that when have moved somewhere more private," he said, he turned to Mr Weasley, "is there such a place?"

"Yes, of course," Mr Weasley said nervously, "Why don't you go to the sitting room? There's no one in the house,"

"You can lead the way," Scrimgeour said. "There will be no need to accompany us, Arthur,"

Lydia saw Mr and Mrs Weasley exchange worried glances but they sat down. Lydia put her knife and fork down and followed Harry, Ron and Hermione into the house. James stood up but Lydia nudged him and shook her head. The last thing they needed was to make a scene. She knew that the other three were thinking the same thing: Scrimgeour had somehow found out that they were dropping out of Hogwarts.

Scrimgeour did not speak as they walked through the kitchen and into the sitting room. Harry flicked his wand at the oil lamps as they entered and they illuminated the shabby but cosy room. Scrimgeour sat himself in the armchair that Mr Weasley usually occupied and Lydia, Harry, Ron and Hermione squeezed themselves onto the sofa.

"I have some questions for the four of you, and I think it will be best if we do it individually. Ronald, I'll start with-"

"We're not doing anything individually," Lydia said quickly, "You can speak to us together, or not at all,"

Scrimgeour gave her a cold look and then shrugged. "Very well, then, together," he cleared his throat, "I am here because of Albus Dumbledore's will,"

Lydia glanced at Harry who was frowning at Scrimgeour.

"A surprise, apparently! You were not aware, then, that Dumbledore had left you anything?"

"A-all of us?" Ron said, "Me and Hermione too?"

"He left me something?" Lydia asked, shocked.

"Yes, all-"

But Harry interrupted.

"Dumbledore died over a month ago. Why has it taken this long to give us what he left us?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione said, before Scrimgeour could answer. "They wanted to examine whatever he's left us. You had no right to do that!"

"I had every right," said Scrimgeour, "The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation gives the Ministry the power to confiscate the contents of a will-"

"That law was created to stop wizards passing on Dark artefacts," said Hermione, "and the Ministry is supposed to have powerful evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them! Are you telling me that you thought Dumbledore was trying to pass us something cursed?"

"Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?" Scrimgeour asked.

"No, I'm not!" Hermione retorted, "I'm hoping to do some good in the world!"

"So why are you giving them us now?" Lydia asked.

"Because the thirty one days are up," Hermione said at once, "and you couldn't find anything wrong with them, could you?"

Scrimgeour ignored Hermione and instead turned to Ron.

"Would you say you were close to Dumbledore, Ronald?"

"Me? Uh-no, not really. It was always Harry who-"

Hermione was giving him a stop talking now look but the damage was already done. Scrimgeour smiled at Ron.

"If you weren't close, why did he leave you something?" He asked, "All of his possessions were left to Hogwarts, and yet he left something for you,"

"I dunno," Ron said, "I always thought that he liked me,"

"Stop being modest, Ron," Hermione said, "Dumbledore was very fond of you,"

Scrimgeour put his and inside his cloak and withdrew a drawstring pouch. From it, he removed a scroll of parchment, which he unrolled and read aloud.

"'The Last Will and Testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,'"...yes, here we are..'to Ronald Billius Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it,"

Scrimgeour handed Ron an object that Lydia was sure she had seen before. It looked like a silver cigarette lighter, but she was sure that it was something more. Ron took it and turned it over in his fingers, looking stunned.

"That is a valuable object," said Scrimgeour, "It may even be unique. It was, after all, one of Dumbledore's own designs. Why would Dumbledore leave you such a rare item?"

Ron looked bewildered.

"I don't know,"

"Dumbledore must have taught thousands and thousands of students," Scrimgeour continued, "Yet the only ones he remembered in his will, were you. Why is that? To what use I'd he think you would put his Deluminator, Mr Weasley?"

"I don't know," mumbled Ron, "Maybe he thinks I'll put lights out. What else would I do with it?"

Scrimgeour looked at him for a moment and then turned to Hermione.

"'To Miss Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, in the hope that she will find it entertaining and instructive,""

Scrimgeour then pulled out of the bag a small, ancient book. It's binding was stained and peeling in places. Hermione took it from Scrimgeour without a war and held the book in her lap. Lydia looked down at it. The title was in runes.

"Why do you think Dumbledore left you this book, Miss Granger?"

"Because he knew I liked books," Hermione said, wiping at her eyes with sleeve.

"But why that particular book?"

"I don't know. He must have thought that I'd enjoy it,'

"Did you ever discuss codes with Dumbledore?"

Hermione shook her head, suppressing a sob. With some difficulty, Ron extracted his arm from the sofa and put it around Hermione's shoulder. Scrimgeour turned to Harry.

""To Harry James Potter, I leave the Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill." He took out the tiny ball, "Why do you think Dumbledore left you this?"

"Maybe for the reasons you read out?" Harry said, "You know...perseverance and stuff..."

"Do you not think there might be something more? A Snitch is a good place to hide something, don't you think?"

"What?" Harry said.

"Snitches have flesh memories," Hermione said.

"Correct," Scrimgeour nodded, "The first person who touches the Snitch is not the maker, but the Seeker. This Snitch will remember your touch, Potter. Dumbledore could have hidden something in this Snitch,"

Lydia glanced at Harry. There was no way he would be able to take the Snitch without the Minister seeing as well. Slowly, he reached out his hand and took the Snitch. As his hand closed around it, nothing happened. Even it's wings stopped fluttering.

"That was dramatic," Harry said. Lydia laughed.

"And finally..."To Miss Lydia Lily Potter, I leave the Sword of Gryffindor, in the hopes that she remembers we are not who we are, but what we do,"

Lydia looked at Scrimgeour, her eyebrows raised. There was no way that the Sword was in that pouch. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"The Sword does not belong to Dumbledore, and was not his to give away," Scrimgeour said, "So why did you think he gave it to you?"

"I don't know," Lydia said, 'Maybe he thought it would look nice on my wall,"

"This is not a joke, Potter! The Sword destroyed the Heir of Slytherin. Perhaps Dumbledore believed that the Sword could kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Scrimgeour said.

"Or maybe it's just a sentimental thing," Lydia shrugged, "The Sword presents it to a true Gryffindor and it presented itself to me in the Chamber of Secrets even though I'm a Slytherin. That's what he meant, didn't he, when he said that 'we're not who we are, but what we do,"".

"Maybe he thinks it could present itself to you when you need to kill He-Who-"

"Have the Ministry considered trying to stick a sword in Voldemort instead of covering up mass breakouts from Azkaban and looking at wills! Voldemort chased me over three counties and killed Mad-Eye! What have you got to say about that?"

"You go too far!" Scrimgeour shouted, jumping up and pointing his wand at Harry.

Ron jumped up too and shouted, "Oi!" His wand also out, but Lydia stood up too and pushed Ron down, "No! D'you want to give him a reason to arrest us?"

"Remembered you're not in school, Potter?" Scrimgeour said, sneering, "Dumbledore might have let you get away with everything, but you need to learn to teach your elders with respect!"

"It's time you earned it!"

Just as Mr and Mrs Weasley and James burst into the sitting room, Scrimgeour took a step back from Harry.

"We thought we heard raised voices," James said.

"I regret your attitude," and he swept from the room.

"What-" Mrs Weasley said.

"Dumbledore's will," Lydia said.

That evening, when everyone else had gone to bed and Harry, Ron and Hermione were wide awake discussing what they had been given, Lydia crawled into bed but didn't go to sleep. Instead, she lay staring at the dark ceiling in Ginny's room and thought about Dumbledore had left them. The Deluminator and the book seemed trivial, but Lydia couldn't shake the feeling that the Snitch was something more than a sentimental keepsake. As for the sword...it was ridiculous, but what if Dumbledore really expected her to kill Voldemort with the sword?

"No," Lydia whispered to herself, "That would be stupid. I'm a witch. I have a wand for a reason,"


	18. Wedding Day

" _ **Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other."**_

 ** _-Euripides_**

"What the hell is that, Weasley?"

"It's me!" Ron said brightly.

"No, it's not," Lydia said, "That's a ghoul,"

They were stood in the attic after Ron had quite proudly told Lydia about the plan that had been put in place to stop the Ministry from asking where he had gone. They had come up with the grand idea of disguising the ghoul to look like Ron but with spattergroit. Lydia stood staring at it with her arms folded and wrinkling her nose for the smell was something disgusting.

"Yes it's a ghoul, but the Death Eaters won't need to know that, will they!" Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Listen - when we don't go back to Hogwarts, they're just going to assume that we're with you, right? So what's the first thing the Death Eaters are going to do?"

"I don't know-"

"They'll come for our families! So then we'll just have to say that I can't come to school because I'm ill with spattergroit!" He said as they arrived back in the bedroom. Harry was sat cross legged on the floor whilst Hermione was knelt at the window, doing her makeup for the wedding.

"And what's Hermione got? Dragon pox?" Lydia asked.

"No, I've modified my parents memory and convinced them to move to Australia," Hermione said matter-of-factly. Tears sprang to her eyes and she looked away from the mirror, "They have no idea that they have a daughter,"

"Oh, Hermione, I had-" Lydia began but Hermione waved her down.

"No, it's fine," she said, wiping her eyes, "I always knew it would probably come down to this. I've been preparing myself for it since fourth year, really," she shrugged, "I don't think they'll expect me to go back to school, anyway. A lot of muggle borns are going into hiding,"

" Anyway ," She said, continuing briskly, "I've been trying to find out who R.A.B is and I can't find anything, anywhere!"

"I've looked as well," Lydia said miserably, "maybe he destroyed the locket,"

"But we don't know that! We can't kill him before all the Horcruxes are gone!" Hermione said.

"What I don't understand," Ron said, "is why we have to destroy the Horcruxes to kill him,"

"Because, the soul is what makes a person," Hermione said impatiently, "if I killed you right now with a sword, your body would be destroyed but your soul would stay intact,"

"Which would make me feel a lot better," Ron muttered.

"It should actually!" Hermione said, "the only way he can be truly destroyed is if the Horcruxes are gone. We just don't know where they are, which is a slight problem,"

"Just a tiny one," Harry muttered.

At three o'clock, Lydia stood in the garden of The Burrow next to Hermione. Ron had given them both seating plans in the hopes that it would help them decipher between the great number of Weasley relatives but it wasn't helping. They were all freckled and ginger. Twice, Lydia thought that she had seen Ron but it had ended up being the same cousin twice, who, it turned out, was also called Ron.

"How have we never seen any of these people at Hogwarts?" Lydia hissed at Hermione.

"We probably have but they all blend together," she said, "There must have been a time when Gryffindor house was mainly Weasley,"

"They can't have all been Gryffindor, can they? There must have been one bad egg who ended up in Slytherin," Lydia muttered, "you know who should have been in Slytherin? Fred and George,"

Harry, Ron, Fred and George wandered over to them, all looking quite stressed and clutching seating plans. Ron was glaring in the direction of his Great Auntie Muriel, which was unsurprising to Lydia as upon meeting her, Muriel had told her dress was too low cut and her face to thin.

"She just told me that I needed to clear my spots!" he said furiously, "They're freckles!"

"Keep telling yourself that, mate," Fred said, clapping him on the back.

"Look at you! You're the same!" Ron snapped.

"None of you are allowed to talk about things on your face that draw unwanted attention," Lydia said, tracing the scar on her face.

"Yeah, but how often does that scar get mistaken for acne," Ron said darkly.

"And you're better looking than Ron," George said, "Ouch!" He jerked his head to the side as Fabio bit onto his ear, "Merlin, what is wrong with him?"

"Why don't you put him on the other side? There's no ear there," Ron said.

"Why don't you stand on that side so I don't have to hear you speak?"

It took awhile, but everyone was finally seated. Hagrid had caused a small disturbance by sitting on the wrong seat and breaking it. He apologised to anyone who would listen as he sat on the correct chair that wouldn't break under his weight.

"When I get married," Fred said, tugging at the neck of his robes, "I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like and I'll put a full body-bind curse on mum,"

"You only really get married for the party afterwards, don't you?" George said.

Lydia turned to look at him, eyebrows raised.

"And love, obviously," he added hastily.

"Mhm," she said. "Let's go and sit down. Dad won't stop waving at me, I'm scared he's going to break his arm,"

A hush fell over the congregation as the golden-jacketed band started playing. Mr and Mrs Weasley walked down the aisle, both beaming. Ginny and Fleur's sister, Gabrielle, followed them wearing robes of light pink. Ginny winked at Harry who quickly looked away.

"Oh, look at her!" Hermione breathed as Fleur came down the aisle with her father. She looked amazing with her silvery blonde hair pulled neatly out of her face and wearing a simple white dress. Charlie was grinning at Bill at the top of the aisle who looked like had never met Fenrir Greyback.

Lydia looked away as Monsieur Delacour kissed Fleur on the cheek. Not for the first time that day, Lydia wondered if she would ever make it to her wedding day, and she was quite sure that next to her, James was thinking the same thing. Lydia looked down at the ring on her finger and wondered what it would be like to walk down the aisle with him.

"Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle..."

In the front row, Mrs Weasley and Madame Delacour were sobbing quietly into handkerchiefs. In the back row, Lydia could hear Hagrid sobbing. George took her hand and turned to her, beaming. She felt her eyes fill with tears and once again, panic set in as she wondered whether or not she would make it to her own wedding day. Still, she was determined to have a good day and pushed those thoughts from her mind and plastered a smile onto her face.

"...then I declare you bonded for life,"

The wizard held his wand above his head and a shower of silver stars fell upon the now entwined figures of Bill and Fleur. Fred and George lead a round of applause and the balloons overhead burst and birds flew over their heads, singing. Fabio squealed happily from George's shoulder.

After they had eaten their way through four courses and Lydia was sure that if she ate anymore, her dress robes would burst, they were instructed to stand up. They did so, rather hastily, as the tables and chairs were moved to the side, revealing a dance floor. White jacket wearing Waiters made their way around the dance floor, carrying trays of drinks and food.

"Brilliant!" Ron said, picking up four bottles of Butterbeers, "Come on, Hermione, cop hold, let's go and get seats - not over there! That's where Muriel is!"

They found Fred and George sat at a table with Luna Lovegood and a man who could only be her father. They both shared the same scraggly blonde hair and were wearing matching robes of bright yellow. So bright, in fact, that it took Lydia a moment to be able to look at her without squinting. Once you got used to it, Lydia thought that Luna actually looked very nice. Lydia noticed James trying to hide behind Harry to avoid speaking to Luna's father, but she pretended not to to see him.

"Hello, Lydia," Luna said dreamily, "I like your hair,"

"Thank-you, Luna. It's a Valerian sprig. Hermione got it me for my birthday," she said.

"Lydia Potter, what a pleasure to meet you! I am Xenophilius Lovegood!" Luna's father said, shaking her hand, "I have heard many things about you, from Luna,"

"Oh-uh, lovely to meet you, Mr Lovegood," she said.

"Now, I must go and see the Gernumbli gardensi ," Xenophilius said, and then he left as though he had said the most normal thing in the world.

"He must go and see the what?" Lydia muttered to Ron who had gotten distracted by the fact that Harry had somehow been convinced to dance with Luna.

"Herm-own-ninny?" A familiar voice asked.

"Viktor!" Hermione shrieked, jumping up as Viktor Krum came to the table.

"Oh, this will be fun," George said, noticing Krum.

"I-I didn't know you were coming," Hermione said, looking flustered.

"Vell, Fleur invited me," he said, "You look lovely,"

"Hermione!" Ron said in a loud voice, making her jump, "Let's go and dance, shall we?"

"Oh, right, OK," Hermione said, taking his hand.

Krum looked quite put out and then noticed Lydia. "Hello, Lydia," and then he slouched off, leaving Lydia and George in fits of laughter as Ron glared at Krum over the top of Hermione's head. Harry had managed to escape from Luna and was in deep conversation with Elphias Doge whilst Luna carried on dancing on her own. Fred was on the other side of the dance floor dancing rather outrageously with Mrs Weasley.

"Was that Viktor Krum?" James asked, looking over at him.

"Yeah. Hermione went to the Yule Ball with him," Lydia said, "I still can't believe she went to the Yule Ball with a professional Quidditch player,"

George looked slightly affronted, "Yeah...well...you went with a...not even slightly professional, but defintley could have been, Quidditch player,"

"That's what they all say," James said.

"Can you imagine our wedding?" George asked, once James had left to go and badger Remus and Tonks.

Lydia glanced at him and quickly looked away.

"I don't know," she said, honestly, "I mean, this could take years. Hunting Voldemort, I mean,"

"I'll wait," he said indifferently.

"What if I don't come back?"

"I'll wait," he repeated.

"Listen, if I don't come back, don't feel like you can't find someone else-"

"I don't even want to think about that," he said quickly, "But listen, we're at a wedding and we're sat down like boring people. We really should be dancing,"

Lydia laughed and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor, and for a few hours, she allowed herself to get lost in being seventeen. Hermione and Ron were the happiest that Lydia had seen them in a long time and there seemed to be no trace of Viktor Krum on her mind. It was about time, really, Lydia thought, as she danced with James and imagined possibly dancing with him on her own wedding day.

Under the guise of wanting another drink, Lydia left the dance floor and found an empty table. She sat down at it and took her shoe off, rubbing her foot. Whenever she wore heels, she spent the next day limping around and vowing to never wear them again, only to wear them again in the next few days. George dropped into the seat next to her, wiping sweat from his forehead and looking as though he had just ran a marathon.

"If I see Muriel in ten years, it'll be too soon," he said, taking two drinks off a waiter as he walked past.

"She's not that bad," Lydia said.

"She insulted you within five seconds of seeing you,"

"Vernon Dursley would have insulted me within three," Lydia shrugged, "she needs to up her game,"

George looked as though he was going to say something but then shook his head and took a gulp of Butterbeer. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the middle of the dance floor. For a moment, Lydia thought that it was another strange wizard wedding tradition, but then she recognised that I was a Patronus in the shape of a Lynx.

The deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt filled the Marquee.

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming,"

The Lynx disappeared and the Marquee suddenly seemed darker than it had been before. Lydia looked at George, her wand drawn. And then it happened.

The protective enchantments around The Burrow broke and people in dark robes burst in. George grabbed Lydia and forced her down behind the table. Both fully aware that this was it; that this was where everything they had feared was coming true.

"Don't say anything," he said, "don't make this any harder than it already needs to be,"

She quickly kissed him and jumped up from behind the table. She spotted Ron and ran over to him, grabbing his arm. Harry and Hermione were nowhere to be seen and all she could think about was how unfair this was. It was a wedding. It was meant to be the happiest day of Bill and Fleur's life and she could see the two of them duelling Death Eaters on the other side of the room.

Someone grabbed her arm and Lydia spun around to find James, panic stricken.

"Promise me, you'll be careful," he said.

"I promise," she said, "I'll be back,"

"Ron! Lydia!"

Lydia whirled around and saw Harry and Hermione running towards them. Together, she and Ron ran over to them and Lydia took Hermione's outstretched hand. They turned on the spot and the sounds of the wedding left them, only to be replaced by the sound of a busy London road. Hermione shoved the three of them backwards into an alleyway and Lydia meant back against the wall, breathing heavily.

"We can't just leave them!" Harry said furiously. "Hermione, do you know how many Death Eaters-"

"Exactly, Harry," Hermione said, "they are safer away from us,"

"She's right," Ron said, "the Order are there. They'll keep them safe,"

"But my bag-"

"I have it all," she said, opening her beaded bag and starting to pull things out of it. She chucked their bags at them and then gave Harry and Ron a pair of jeans. "We can get away with wearing these," she said to Lydia.

"Speak for yourself, my feet are killing," Lydia muttered.

"Come on," Hermione said, "let's get going,"

"Where are we, out of interest?" Lydia asked, looking around and cringing as men on the other side of the road started wolf whistling.

"Tottenham Court Road," Hermione replied, "it's the first place that popped into my head. I think it's safer to stay in the Muggle world for a while. I don't think it's safe to go to Grimmauld Place, because Snape knows where that is. I suppose we could try my parents house but I don't know if they'll check there or not. I imagine they will,"

"Let's go in here," Harry said, pointing at a grubby all-night café, glaring at the men over the road.

Inside was just as depressing as the outside. It was completely empty apart from the bored barista stood behind the counter. One of the lights kept on flickering on and off and the table seemed to be coated in grease. When the barista came over to take their order, Lydia quickly ordered them all a cup of coffee.

"Have you got muggle money to pay for this, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Yes, I took out my savings before we left," Hermione said, "I bet all the change is at the bottom," she added.

"We need a plan," Harry said in a low voice.

"I've got one," Lydia said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's quite simple really: don't get killed by Voldemort,"

Ron laughed but Hermione wasn't impressed. They stayed silent as two new customers walked in. Lydia watched them for a while. The huge blond one seemed to be glancing over his shoulder constantly whilst the other smaller one waved the waitress away when she came to take their order.

"That's not funny, Lydia," she said quietly.

"Not funny, but a really good plan," Lydia replied, "although, a lot easier said than- DOWN!"

The two customers had moved at the exact same time, and Lydia automatically mirrored their movements.

" _Stupefy_!" She yelled.

Harry shoved her out of the way as the blond one waved his wand, " _Protego_!"

The waitress was stood in the middle of the café, frozen in fear. Hermione leapt over the booths and crashed into her, pulling her out of harm's way just as curse cracked above them.

" _Depulso_!" Ron yelled as the smaller of the Death Eaters started towards Harry and Lydia, " _Expelliarmus_!" The blond Death Eater pointed his wand at Ron and black ropes shot out from the end of it, binding him.

" _Petrificus Totalus_!" Hermione screamed, out of sight. The blond Death Eater fell to the floor, unable to move.

" _Expulso_!" The second Death Ester yelled and the table behind Lydia blew up. The power of the explosion threw her against the wall and her knees gave way underneath her.

" _Stupefy_!" Harry yelled, and a jet of red light hit him full in the face and he fell to the floor, unconscious. "Are you all right?" He asked, standing over her.

"Been better," she spat blood, "oh, Merlin, I have been so much better.

He helped her up and lead her over to where Hermione and, still bound, Ron was. Lydia pointed at Ron, "is anyone going to-"

"You do it," Hermione said hurriedly.

" _Diffindo_ ,"

Ron roared in pain as Lydia completely missed the ropes and she accidentally caused the spell to cut into his flesh.

"Sorry!" She said, " _Diffindo_! There were go, sorry, mate!"

He glared at her as he tore the rest of the ropes off of him.

"You have really bad aim for a Chaser," he muttered.

"Quidditch hoops are a lot bigger!" She protested, helping him up.

He looked over at the Death Eaters. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I think wiping their memories is our best bet," Hermione said anxiously.

"Does anyone know how to do one of them?" Harry asked.

"I've never done one before, but I know the theory," Hermione said.

"You're the boss," Ron said.

She took a deep calming breath and stepped towards the Death Eaters, " _obliviate_ ,"

Once the memories of the Death Eaters and the waitress were wiped, Lydia did her best to put the café back together. She just hoped that once they awoke, they would leave the waitress alone and get going as quickly as possible.

"What now?" Ron asked, straightening up.

"We need to find out how they found us," Hermione said, "they shouldn't have been able to find us. Neither of you have the Trace on you anymore,"

"Maybe they find a way to put it on us," Harry said, "you heard what Kingsley said. The Ministry has fallen,"

"It doesn't matter now," Ron interjected, "where are we going to go now?"

"Grimmauld Place," Harry said at once.

Lydia turned to look at him. "Are you thick?"

"Where else do we have? Mr Weasley said they have all sorts of jinxes and spells against Snape. And even if Snape turns up, I would love nothing more than to run into him!"

The four of them stood in silence for a while, all trying to think of a better place to hide, but Lydia couldn't think of anywhere. Openly going into the Wizarding World would be suicide. At least Grimmauld Place was as secure as it could be.

"Fine." Lydia said, "Let's get going,"


	19. Kreacher

_**"The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."**_

 _ **-Maharishi Mahesh Yogi**_

Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was about as dark and depressing as Lydia remembered, only somehow worse this time and she didn't think it had anything to do with the horrific dust figure of Albus Dumbledore that rose from the carpet when they first entered. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked on into one of the sitting rooms, but Lydia made her way upstairs. The heads of decapitated House Elves glared down at her from the walls and she was sure that she could hear something rustling around in the shadows. It didn't scare her anymore.

Lydia arrived at the bedroom that she, Hermione and Ginny had shared and pushed the door open. It creaked slightly as she peered in. It seemed to have been kept in the exact same condition as they had left it before their fifth year at Hogwarts. The t-shirt that Lydia had forgotten to pack was still screwed up on her bed. She turned back around and carried on through the house, arriving at the room where she and Harry had met James for the first time. Slowly, she pushed the door open and for a brief moment, she saw James awkwardly stood on the other side of the room with Sirius and Remus. Her heart began to pound at the thought of the Death Eaters getting to him but she hastily reminded herself that he wasn't an idiot and would have been able to get away.

A noise downstairs brought her back to present day and as quietly as she could, she followed the sound of the noise and found Hermione and Ron stood outside the bathroom, banging on the door.

"Harry? Harry?" Hermione was shouting, "open the door! Open the door!"

The door opened revealing quite a dishevelled looking Harry. His scar seemed to be showing up bolder than usual.

"What did you see?" Lydia asked, "Was it him?"

"I didn't see anything," he said, rubbing his head, "I just felt anger. He's really angry about something,"

"But that could be at The Burrow!" Ron yelled, "Did he say where-"

Hermione shrieked and jumped backwards. Lydia drew her wand, but it was only a patronus in the middle of the room. It didn't have a shape, but then it solidified into a weasel and the voice of Mr Weasley rang around the room.

"Family safe. Do not reply. We are being watched," and then it dissolved into nothing.

Ron stared at the spot where the patronus had been for a while, as thought it would come back and speak more words of reassurance. Hermione dropped down onto the couch, her head into her hands. Lydia and Harry looked at each other, it didn't say anything. Lydia hated to be that person, but they had very quickly hit a dead end. Back at The Burrow, they had had no time for planning but Lydia had hoped that they would be able to start properly planning once the wedding was over. Now, however, Ron seemed too shaken to think about anything but his family and Lydia had no idea where to start when it came to hunting Horcruxes. Dumbledore had really left them with the bare minimum.

"Can we sleep in the living room, tonight?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice, "I don't want to be on my own,"

"Yeah," Ron said, "Yeah, we've got sleeping bags, right?"

The next morning, Lydia woke early to Harry shouting her name from somewhere in the house. Wishing for extra hours of sleep, Lydia wrapped herself in her sleeping bag and walked upstairs. She found him in Sirius' room, somewhere she had never been before. It looked as though someone had been looking through it and had done so without taking any care; the curtains were hanging off the window, the bed sheets ripped up and the contents of the wardrobe were strewn across the room.

"Did you do this?" Lydia asked.

"No," he said. He was sat on the bed, "I found it like this but, look at this," he handed her a piece of parchment, "It's off mum,"

Lydia smoothed out the piece of crumpled parchment:

 _Dear Padfoot,_

 _Thank-you, thank-you for Harry and Lydia's birthday present! It was their favourite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, they looked so please with themselves, I'm enclosing a picture so you ca see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but Harry nearly killed the cat and Lydia smashed a horrible vase that Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was so funny, says they're both going to be great Quidditch players one day, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off them once they get going._

 _We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us and dotes on the kids. We were so sorry to you couldn't cme, but the Order's got to come first and they aren't old enough to know it's their birthday, anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell - also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit with Remus, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I though he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard._

 _Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore. I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much I believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore_

Lydia wiped her eyes and stared down at the letter, incredible proof that Lily Potter really had lived. For years, Lydia had felt as though her mother had never really existed. As if she was just a shared hallucination between those who had known her, but she really had lived. Sixteen years ago, Lily Potter had sat down somewhere in Godric's Hollow and written these words about Harry and Lydia. She read it over and over again, Sirius had bought them their first broomstick and James had always thought they would both be good Quidditch Players. She wondered if James had ever thought about their first birthday when he had watched them play Quidditch the previous year.

Lydia felt a rush of anger as she read the sentence Wormy was here again. According to Lily, he had seemed down. Was that because he knew that Lily and James only had a matter of months? Did he know that he was going to happily stand by and let Voldemort kill an entire family? A family who trusted him enough to pick him as secret keeper?

"I found this," Harry said, handing her a photograph, "I couldn't find the rest of the letter,"

She took the photograph off him and looked down at it. Two black-haired babies zoomed in and out of frame on broomsticks, their toes skimming the ground as a pair of legs that must have belonged to James chased after them. Lydia wiped her eyes again as she looked down at her and brother; no scar marked their faces or their hands, and neither of them had any idea of what was coming for them. They were still innocent, lost in a world of broomsticks and smothered with the love of two parents who would be cruelly taken from them in just a few months time.

"We had a cat," Lydia said quietly, "We could have asked dad what it was called,"

Harry nodded. "We'll be able to ask him one day..."

"Lydia? Harry? Where are you?"

"Here!" Harry called, "What's happened?"

There was a clatter of footsteps and Hermione burst inside.

"Don't do that! We woke up and couldn't find you," She said breathlessly. She turned and looked over her shoulder, "Ron! They're in here!"

"Good! Tell them from me that they're gits!" Ron shouted up the stairs.

"Hermione, look at this," Lydia said, showing her the picture and the letter.

She smiled slightly as she looked at the picture of Harry and Lydia on their broomsticks. She glanced around the room, "Did you make all this mess?"

"No, it was like this when I found it," Harry said.

"I thought so. Almost every room I looked in like this. What were they after, do you think?"

"If it was Snape, information on the Order," Lydia said.

"But he was in the Order, remember?" Hermione said, "He already knew everything,"

"Well then," Harry said, "what about information on Dumbledore? The second page of this letter, for instance. You know this Bathilda my mum mentions, you know who she is?"

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Bathilda Bagshot, author of-"

"A History of Magic," said Hermione, looking interested, "So your parents to knew her?"

"And she's still alive. She knew Dumbledore's family, too." Harry said, "She"d's be interesting to talk to-"

"I understand why you want to speak to her, Harry, but I think they'll expect us to go to Godric's' Hollow," Lydia said, cutting across him, "And it's not going to help us find Horcruxes, is it?"

"You're right," Harry said, in a resigned voice.

"Let's go and find something to eat," Hermione said slowly, "and then work out where we're going from here,"

As Lydia walked to the stairs, her eyes fell on a door that she had previously not seen before. Stuck to it, was a sign that would not have looked out of place on the bedroom door of Percy Weasley:

"Do not enter, without the express permission of Regulus Arcturus Black,"

"Regulus Arcturus Black..." Lydia said quietly, "Regulus Arcturus Black...R..A..B.." She gasped and almost toppled down the stairs, "I've found him! Harry! Hermione! R.A.B! R.A.B!"

Harry ran back up the stairs as Lydia pointed silently at the door. He looked shocked for a moment but then he turned to her, his face full of glee. He ran forward and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

" _Alohomora_ ," Hermione said, shoving them both out of the way. "Ron! Ron!" She yelled over the bannister, "come up here! Quickly!"

"If it's one of those massive spiders again, I want to wait until I've eaten breakfast first because-" he froze at the top of the stairs, his wand ready and looked at the sign that Harry was gesturing wildly too, "Regulus Arcturus Bla - Merlin! It's R.A.B!"

Harry lead the way into the room. It was slightly smaller than Sirius', but Lydia could tell why Regulus had always been the favourite over his older brother. Where Sirius had plastered his walls with Gryffindor colours, muggle pictures and pictures of his friends, Regulus had covered his room with the emerald colour of Slytherin house. Newspaper clippings hung on the wall and Lydia moved closer to them. Every single one was about Lord Voldemort.

"Seems like he was a fan before he joined the Death Eaters," Lydia said to Ron, pointing at the clippings.

"Look at this. He played Quidditch," Harry said, showing them a picture.

Lydia peered at it. The team wore the exact same robes that she had worn the previous year. Regulus was instantly recognisable in the front row. He looked like his brother, though perhaps not as handsome and slightly smaller.

"He played Seeker," Harry said.

Lydia moved over to the wardrobe and opened it, her wand held up. Like Sirius' room, it had been ransacked and the dusty robes were hanging off their hangers. She suddenly went cold at the thought of Snape knowing they were looking for Horcruxes and had told Voldemort what they were doing. What if Voldemort was now keeping them close to him so that they would never be able to destroy them? Dumbledore trusted Snape more than anyone and it would not have been a shock to Lydia if se found out that Dumbledore had told Snape everything.

"There's an easier way to do this," Hermione said. She raised her wand, " _Accio Locket_ ,"

Nothing happened.

"Is that it, then? It's not here?" Ron asked, disappointed.

"Oh, it could be here, but under counter-enchantments," sad Hermione.

"That's what Voldemort put on the stone basin in the cave," Harry said.

"Maybe it's just not here," Lyda said, "Someone has obviously been here before us. Maybe they found it,"

"Let's just keep looking,"

They combed every inch of the room for over an hour but found nothing and were forced to give up. Whilst Lydia, Harry and Ron were feeling quite discouraged, Hermione seemed to have become more determined.

"Just because it's not in that room doesn't mean it's not in the rest of the house," She said in a rallying tone, "It could be anywhere in here! Even if he didn't manage to destroy it, he would have wanted to hide it from Voldemort, wouldn't he?"

Lydia nodded, "Yeah, remember all those things we found when we were clearing out the house last time-"

"Merlin's beard!" Hermione exclaimed, making them jump, "The locket! It was here! In the cabinet in the drawing room!"

Lydia gasped as she remembered it. She had been stood in the drawing room with the Weasley's, her father and Sirius when they had found the locket. No one could open it as they passed it around the group and then Sirius had sighed and tossed it in a bag of rubbish, proclaiming it to be a 'piece of shit,'.

"Kreacher used to nick stuff all the time, remember?" Harry said, "It might still be in his cupboard..."

At once, they thundered down the stairs. Passing the screaming portrait of Mrs Black, ("Mudblood! Scum! Filth!") they burst into the basement kitchen. Harry launched himself at Kreacher's cupboard and yanked the door open, pulling everything out of it. It was empty, apart from a ragged blanket and a dead mouse that rolled across the floor and came to rest at Lydia's feet, who grimaced and kicked it away from her. Hermione closed her eyes and Ron groaned, throwing himself down in one of the chairs.

"It's not over yet," Lydia said, "Kreacher!"

There was a loud crack and the house elf that Lydia and Harry had reluctantly inherited from Sirius appeared out of nowhere in front of the cold and empty fireplace: tiny, half human-sized, his pale skin hanging off him in folds, white hair sprouting copiously from his batlike ears.

"Mistress," croaked Kreacher in his bullfrog's voice, and he bowed low; muttering to his knees, "back in my Mistress's old house with the blood-traitor Weasley and the Mudblood –"

"I forbid you to call anyone 'blood traitor' or 'Mudblood,'" Lydia said quickly.

"Still a disgrace to the house of Slytherin..." he croaked, not quite looking at her.

"I've got a question for you," said Harry. Lydia's heart beating rather fast as she looked down at the elf.

"and I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"

"Yes, Master," said Kreacher, bowing low again.

Lydia saw his lips moving soundlessly, undoubtedly framing the insults he was now forbidden to utter.

"Two years ago," said Harry, "there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it out. Did you steal it back?"

There was a moment's silence, during which Kreacher straightened up to look Harry full in the face. Then he said, "Yes."

"Where is it now?" asked Lydia jubilantly as Harry, Ron and Hermione looked gleeful.

Kreacher closed his eyes as though he could not bear to see their reactions to his next word.

"Gone."

"Gone?" echoed Lydia, elation floating out of her, "What do you mean, it's gone?"

The elf shivered. He swayed.

"Kreacher," said Harry fiercely, "I order you –"

"Mundungus Fletcher," croaked the elf, his eyes still tight shut. "Mundungus Fletcher stole it all; Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and – and – "

Kreacher was gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly, then his eyes flew open and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream.

"—and the locket, Master Regulus' locket. Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!"

Harry seemed to react instinctively: As Kreacher lunged for the poker standing in the grate, he launched himself upon the elf, flattening him. Hermione's scream mingled with Kreacher's but Harry bellowed louder than both of them: "Kreacher, I order you to stay still!"

Lydia watched the elf freeze and Harry released him. Kreacher lay flat on the cold stone floor, tears gushing from his sagging eyes.

"Harry, let him up!" Hermione whispered.

"So he can beat himself up with the poker?" snorted Harry, kneeling beside the elf. "I don't think so. Right. Kreacher, I want the truth: How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"

"Kreacher saw him!" gasped the elf as tears poured over his snout and into his mouth full of graying teeth. "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and r-ran … "

"You called the locket 'Master Regulus's,'" said Lydia. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!"

The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen.

"Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper order; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns … and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve …

And one day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said … he said …"

The old elf rocked faster than ever.

"… he said that the Dark Lord required an elf."

"Voldemort needed an elf?" Lydia repeated, looking around at Harry, Ron and Hermione, who looked just as puzzled as she did.

"Oh yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do … and then to c-come home."

Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs.

"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake … "

"… There was a boat …"

Lydia remembered what Harry had told her of the cave...of course there had been a boat. This, then, was how Voldemort had tested the defenses surrounding the Horcrux, by borrowing a disposable creature, a house-elf…

"There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it …"

The elf quaked from head to foot.

"Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible thing … Kreacher's insides burned … Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed … He made Kreacher drink all the potion … He dropped a locket into the empty basin … He filled it with more potion."

"And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island … "

Lydia could see it happening. She watched Voldemort's white, snakelike face vanishing into darkness, those red eyes fixed pitilessly on the thrashing elf whose death would occur within minutes, whenever he succumbed to the desperate thirst that the burning poison caused its victim …

"Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge and he drank from the black lake … and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface … "

"How did you get away?" Harry asked in a whisper.

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked Harry with his great, bloodshot eyes.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said.

"I know – but how did you escape the Inferi?"

Kreacher did not seem to understand.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he repeated.

"I know, but – "

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it, Harry?" said Ron. "He Disapparated!"

"But … you couldn't Apparate in and out of that cave," said Harry, "otherwise Dumbledore – "

"Elf magic isn't like wizard's magic, is it?" said Ron, "I mean, they can Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts when we can't."

There was a silence as Lydia digested this. How could Voldemort have made such a mistake? But even as he thought this, Hermione spoke, and her voice was icy.

"Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves far beneath his notice … It would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn't."

"The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," intoned Kreacher. "Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home … "

"Well, then, you did what you were told, didn't you?" said Hermione kindly. "You didn't disobey orders at all!"

Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.

"So what happened when you got back?" Harry asked. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"

"Master Regulus was very worried, very worried," croaked Kreacher. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then … it was a little while later … Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell … and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord … "

"And he made you drink the poison?" said Harry, disgusted.

But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione's hands leapt to her mouth: She seemed to have understood something.

"M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," said Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snoutlike nose. "And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets …"

Kreacher's sobs came in great rasps now; Lydia had to concentrate hard to understand him.

"And he order – Kreacher to leave – without him. And he told Kreacher – to go home – and never to tell my Mistress – what he had done – but to destroy – the first locket. And he drank – all the potion – and Kreacher swapped the lockets – and watched … as Master Regulus … was dragged beneath the water … and … "

"Oh, Kreacher!" wailed Hermione, who was crying. She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.

"The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?"

"I told you not to call her 'Mudblood'!" snarled Lydia, but the elf was already punishing himself. He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.

"Stop him – stop him!" Hermione cried. "Oh, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey?"

"Kreacher – stop, stop!" shouted Harry.

The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snot, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming in tears. Lydia had never seen anything so pitiful.

"So you brought the locket home," she said relentlessly, for she was determined to know the full story. "And you tried to destroy it?"

"Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work … So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open … Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave …"

Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words. Tears flowed down Hermione's cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron, who was no fan of Kreacher's, looked troubled. Harry sat back on his heels and shook his head. Lydia stood away from them, her arms folded as her mind worked in overdrive.

"I don't understand you, Kreacher," She said finally. "Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to betray Sirius to Voldemort? You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them … "

"Lydia, Kreacher doesn't think like that," said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "He's a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn't that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He's loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you're going to say," she went on as Lydia began to protest, "that Regulus changed his mind … but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he?" And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus' family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all."

"Sirius – "

"Sirius was horrible to Kreacher, Lydia, and it's no good looking like that, you know it's true. Kreacher had been alone for such a long time when Sirius came to live here, and he was probably starving for a bit of affection. I'm sure 'Miss Cissy' and 'Miss Bella' were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, so he did them a favor and told them everything they wanted to know. I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did … and so did Sirius."

Lydia had no retort. As she watched Kreacher sobbing on the floor, she remembered what Dumbledore had said to her and Harry, mere hours after Sirius's death: I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a humans.

"Kreacher," said Harry after a while, "when you feel up to it, er … please sit up."

It was several minutes before Kreacher hiccupped himself into silence. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position again, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes like a small child.

"Kreacher, I am going to ask you to do something," said Harry. "Kreacher, I want you, please, to go and find Mundungus Fletcher. We need to find out where the locket – where Master Regulus' locket it. It's really important. We want to finish the work Master Regulus started, we want to – er – ensure that he didn't die in vain."

Kreacher dropped his fists and looked up at glanced at Harry and decided against telling him that this was probably a terrible idea.

"Find Mundungus Fletcher?" he croaked.

And bring him here, to Grimmauld Place," said Harry. "Do you think you could do that for us?"

As Kreacher nodded and got to his feet. He took out the fake Horcrux

"Kreacher, I'd, er, like you to have this," he said, pressing the locket into the elf's hand. "This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you-"

"Overkill, mate," said Ron as the elf took one look at the locket, let out a howl of shock and misery, and threw himself back onto the ground.

It took them nearly half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own that he was too weak at the knees to stand properly. When finally he was able to totter a few steps they all accompanied him to his cupboard, watched him tuck up the locket safely in his dirty blankets, and assured him that they would make its protection their first priority while he was away.

He then made two low bows to Lydia, Harry and Ron, and even gave a funny little spasm in Hermione's direction that might have been an attempt at a respectful salute, before Disapparating with the usual loud crack.

"Do you think we're stupid, putting all our trust in Kreacher?" Lydia asked.

"Probably," Ron shrugged, "but we've gotten this far, haven't we?"


	20. Magic is Might

_**"Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past,**_

 _ **threatens the future**_

 _ **and renders the present inaccessible,"**_

 _ **-Maya Angelou**_

"I don' 'ave it! That woman does!" Mundungus Fletcher yelled, backing away from Harry's wand.

"What woman?" Harry demanded.

Lydia was watching the scene unfold, bemused. Kreacher and Dobby had both come back with Mundungus Fletcher, who did not at all seem happy to see them. Though, Lydia thought that might have been down to the fact that Ron had rugby tackled him and Hermione had accidentally on purpose kicked him in the ribs. Kreacher was not helping the situation by hitting him over the head with frying pan, but it did warm her heart to see the elf on their side for once.

"I don' know!" Mundungus said and then he paused. "Why, is it valuable?"

"He still has it!" Hermione cried.

At once, Lydia marched forward with her wand drawn but Ron stopped her, shaking his head.

"He doesn't have it. He's sold it and thinks he should have got it for more," Ron said, eyeing Mundungus with mistrust.

"Sold it for more?" Mundungus laughed, "That would have been fuckin' easy, wouldn't it? Nah, I had to give it away to some woman! I was sellin' in Diagon Alley and I didn' have a license, did I? And this Ministry woman came up to me and started threatening me with arrest an' all that," he said that as though it was as normal as someone stopping him to ask for directions, "anyway, she starts gettin' all high and mighty as these Ministry folk do an' then she saw that locket, didn' she? An' she said that if I give it her for free, she wouldn' report me. So I gave it her, didn' I?"

Lydia frowned at him and finally lowered her wand, backing away from him. Kreacher was still stood next to him, his thin arms shaking under the pressure of him holding the frying pan above his head. Part of Lydia wanted to tell him to put his arms down, but she knew there was no point, he probably wouldn't listen to her.

Hermione was still stood next to Mundungus, a confused look on her face.

"So, who was it?" She asked, "Do you know her name?"

Mundungus shook his head and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I didn' get her name but she was a pudgy sort of woman, y'know? Quite short," he paused for a moment, "kinda looked like a toad, now that I come to think of it,"

Harry looked up at Lydia, his eyes wide. The scars on the back of her hand seemed to be tingling. There was only one woman who she knew who looked like that. Hermione looked at Lydia, her hand over her mouth. Ron was shaking his head as though trying to shake the memory of Umbridge out of his mind.

"Was she wearing a bow in her hair, by any chance?" Lydia asked, her voice steady.

"Yeah. Why?" Mundungus said, he looked down at the Daily Prophet that Ron had stolen that morning. A picture of Umbridge was smiling up at them. "There she is. That's the woman,"

"Right," Harry said, straightening up. "Thanks Mundungus. That's all we wanted to know,"

The next morning, Lydia Apparated into Diagon Alley from the doorstep of Grimmauld Place. She snuck through the Leaky Cauldron and walked into muggle London. Fully aware that she was meant to be wearing it, she bundled the Invisibility Cloak up and stuck it into her bag, pulling her hood over her face and sticking her hands in her pocket. After being holed up in Grimmauld Place for so long, it was nice for Lydia to get away. Whenever they needed something from the outside world, Lydia was always the first to volunteer herself to go. Hermione was never very happy to let her go but, as Lydia pointed out, out of the four of them, Lydia was always the one who did the most sneaking around back in Hogwarts.

"McGonagall is scarier than the Dark Lord and you can't deny that," Lydia would say.

As she passed a group of teenagers gossiping about something, tears suddenly sprung to her eyes. What Lydia would give to be gossiping about something stupid, as opposed to discussing the best way to kill a Dark Wizard. A couple walked by hand in hand and all Lydia could think about was George. She knew that Mr Weasley had said that the family was safe, but Lydia knew the way Voldemort worked. He would go for their loved ones. It was why he had gone for Sirius, and was probably why he would go for someone else next. Lydia fiddled with her not quite engagement ring and wondered if that had all been a mistake. What if the Death Eaters found out? What would they do to George then?

Then, of course, there was the issue of Ron and Hermione. Along with Lydia and Harry, they were wanted for questioning. In her own ignorance, Lydia had never seen Hermione as anything less than any of them because of her blood status - but there was a whole world outside of Hogwarts, and she had forgotten. Outside of Hogwarts, there were genuine pureblood supremacists who wanted muggleborns gone. Lydia often thought that perhaps Hermione would have done better if Lydia had never marched up to her that one day outside of the potions classroom.

And Mrs Weasley often spoke about how Harry had saved the lives of many of the Weasleys, but if they had never gotten so close, maybe that wouldn't have happened. She often thought back to Ron's limp body in the Hospital Wing after he had been poisoned, Ginny almost dead body in the Chamber of Secrets and, more recently, the sight of George's blood soaked neck in The Burrow, and the bandage now tightly wrapped around his head.

Someone grabbed her upper arm and pulled her down an alley. Lydia lashed out and her fist made contact with someone's jaw. There was something familiar about the yell that followed. She backed away and looked up into the face of Remus Lupin, who was looking ever so slightly pissed off. Before he could say anything, her wand was out and pointing directly at his chest.

"In the final match of the inter- house Quidditch tournament at Hogwarts when Remus Lupin taught Defence Against the Dark Arts, what teams played?" She asked hurriedly.

"It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw," he said, "Harry caught the Snitch," he smiled at her, "Speaking as your ex Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, that was very good,"

Lydia cracked a smile and put her wand back into her jeans. "I learned from the best. What's going on? Why are you here? Where's Dad? Is he OK?"

"He's fine," Lupin assured her, "he wanted to come, but I said it was too dangerous. He wasn't particularly happy about it but there's nothing we can do. Where are you staying?"

"Grimmauld Place. Come on, the others will want to see you,"

They slowly made their way back to Grimmauld Place, looking over their shoulder as they went. The familiar dust figure of Albus Dumbledore rose from the carpet and, once her tongue had unrolled, she calmly said, "I didn't kill you," and he faded away into nothingness.

"Lydia?" Came Hermione's voice, "Is that you?"

"Yeah. Look who's here with me!"

Hermione popped her head round the door and he face split into a wide grin at the sight of Remus.

"Come in! Come in!" She said excitedly.

Lydia felt as though Remus probably wouldn't recognise Grimmauld Place. After being given the fake locket, Kreacher had improved greatly. He had stopped muttering under his breath as he walked around the house and had finally stopped insulting Hermione. He even bowed to her, the previous day, after she had thanked him for cooking a quite delicious meal. He had even started cleaning for the first time in over twenty years and Grimmauld Place was actually quite a nice house to live in.

Harry and Ron were stood in the kitchen, pouring over sheafs and sheafs of parchment. They had started planning to break into the Ministry and steal the locket from Umbridge. Lydia could have predicted that it would be complicated, but she didn't think that it would be this difficult. There had been a time when Lydia and Harry would have been able to walk into the Ministry like it was nothing, but these days, there was no way that they could do so now without being killed or arrested. Or both. She didn't think that Death Eaters would mind which one.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked.

"Nothing!" Harry said, shoving all the parchment off the table, "Nothing!"

Next to her, Hermione whimpered slightly as everything got mixed up. Ron was looking at Harry like had had gone mad. Lydia was quite worried that Harry had gone mad because he was currently whistling very loudly.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Harry asked.

"I came to find out what you were doing," Remus said, sitting down, "Everyone back home is being watched. And there's Death Eaters watching outside,"

"Oh, yeah, I saw them before," Ron said.

"And you didn't think to tell us?" Hermione asked.

"I...forgot,"

"I'd have been here three days ago but I had to shake off the Death Eater tailing me," said Remus, "so, have you heard anything?"

"Nothing," Lydia said miserably, "only what the Prophet are reporting which isn't a lot,"

"Scrimgeour is dead,"

Hermione gasped, "how?"

"Death Eaters," Remus said grimly, "Apparently, they wanted information on you two," he indicated Lydia and Harry, "but he didn't give anything away,"

Lydia bit the inside of her lip. She had never gotten on with Scrimgeour, neither of them had, but the fact that he had given his life for them made her respect him in a way she never had done before. Harry glanced at her but didn't say anything.

"And I know you four are going after Voldemort, and I thought you would want help," Remus continued.

"Off who?" Lydia asked, "You don't mean you want to come with us?"

"Yes," Remus said, "You need all the help you can get,"

Harry narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't you want to spend time with Tonks?"

"She's going to be staying at her parents for a while," Remus said stiffly.

"Remus, is everything OK with you and Tonks?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Yes. Everything is fine," he said testily.

Hermione looked away from him. Lydia felt as though everything was the opposite of fine but didn't say anything. An uncomfortable, embarrassed silence followed only to be broken by Remus.

"Tonks is going to have a baby,"

Hermione gasped, "That's amazing!"

"Congratulations!" Harry said.

"That's brilliant!" Ron said.

Lydia didn't say anything. Remus was looking as though he had just announced the worst possible thing in the world. She looked away from him and stared into the fire that was roaring behind him.

"You're having a baby," Lydia said slowly, "and yet you want to leave them?"

"I don't want to leave-"

"But you just asked if we wanted help," Harry said, "thought you'd have an adventure instead?"

"How-how dare you! This is not - not for personal gain!" Remus said, "if your father can't be here with you-"

"Dad would want you to stay with your pregnant wife!" Harry snapped, "he wouldn't have left mum when she was pregnant!"

"Harry, you don't understand-"

"No, I don't think you do," Harry said, "I can't believe this. The man who taught me how to fight Dementors is a coward!"

"Harry!" Lydia exclaimed, shocked.

Remus jumped up, his wand drawn and Harry did the same, but he wasn't nearly as quick. There was a sound like a gunshot and Harry flew back against the wall. Lydia ran over to him and helped him up as he massaged the back of his head and glared at Remus.

"Remus! Remus!" Hermione wailed as he tore from the room.

"What was that for?" Ron asked furiously.

"I shouldn't have called him a coward," Harry said.

"I'll sort these out," Hermione muttered, stooping down and picking the parchment up.

Harry turned to Lydia, and she was shocked to see tears in his eyes.

"Parents...parents should leave their kids unless they have to," He said.

She nodded.

"I know, H. I know,"

—-

They didn't talk about Remus again, and instead implemented the plan for the Ministry. They had been watching the Entrance for months, watching who went in and out and at what time, waiting for the perfect disguises. It took a while, but they found them eventually.

Harry would take on the disguise of Albert Runcorn, a man who ran the Muggle-born registration. Lydia had taken an instant dislike to him the first time she saw him and he'd told a muggle-born wizard that he would be taking him straight to the dementors. Ron would become Reginald Cattermole of the Department of Magical Maintenance, whenever Lydia saw him, he always seemed very stressed and like he was two minutes close to a nervous breakdown. Hermione would take on the appearance of Mafalda Hopkirk who worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office. Harry had gotten on the wrong side of her twice and wasn't very keen to use her, but, as Hermione pointed out, they didn't have the liberty of choosing their favourite people.

"Who am I, again?" Lydia asked on the morning they were going to break into the Ministry.

"Geraldine Walker," Hermione said promptly, "Auror. Thirty five years old and was qualified at the age of twenty five,"

"Oh, right, so you want me to attack an Auror with ten years of experience?" Lydia said.

"Obviously," Hermione said as though it was no big deal. She anxiously looked around the kitchen, "we have everything, don't we?"

"Yes," Ron said, "Stop panicking,"

Dead on seven o'clock, they left Grimmauld Place and a very cheerful Kreacher who promised them a lovely meal when they got back. Lydia tried not to think about the fact that they might not come. They Apparated to the staff entrance of the Ministry of Magic and waited for their employees to come. According to their planning, there would be around five minutes between each arrival, with Reginald Cattermole being the first to arrive.

"Any minute now..." Harry muttered, looking at his watch from where they were crouched behind a bin.

"He's there!" Hermione said quickly, "Ron, now!"

Ron peaked his head around the bin and quickly stunned him. Harry leapt out from behind the bin and dragged Cattermole into an empty warehouse behind them, plucking some hairs from his balding head and dropping it into a Polyjuice potion. Three minutes later, Mafalda Hopkirk Apparated and Ron stunned her, dragging her next to Cattermole. Lydia didn't like the idea of leaving two bodies behind, but, as she kept on reminding herself, they weren't dead and that made them marginally better than Death Eaters.

"Just two more now..." Hermione breathed.

"Wish they'd hurry up," Lydia said, "this bin stinks,"

"Most bins do, Lyds," Ron sighed, "Wait - here's the Auror,"

Finally, they were ready and Geraldine Walker, Reginald Cattermole, Mafalda Hopkirk and Albert Runcorn walked out from behind a very stinky bin. Lydia pulled down on the heavy black robes that they had found in a bedroom in Grimmauld Place. It looked like the kind of thing Geraldine wore to work on a daily basis, but she also didn't look this awkward. Something that Lydia was very thankful for was the fact that Geraldine Walker had amazing hair. She had the kind of hair that Lydia would kill for and she would happily murder someone for it.

"Let's get going then," Harry said.

Trying to look as though they knew where they going, they followed the line of Ministry workers into what appeared to be public toilets. Lydia and Hermione exchanged worried looks with Harry and Ron as they divided into the male and female toilets.

Inside, Lydia only grew more confused. Witches walked into the cubicles, and then didn't come back. When it was her turn, Lydia walked into one of the tiny cubicles and closed the door behind her. She looked around, expecting to see something more than the small toilet in the cubicle. After seven years in the Wizarding World, Lydia had learned that the weirdest thing to do, was probably the right thing to do. So, she climbed into the toilet and pulled the chain.

At once, she began to spin on the spot and felt herself fall before tumbling out of a fireplace that lined the walls of the Auditorium of the Ministry for Magic. Before she got hit by the next person coming up, she quickly brushed the soot off her robes and hurried forward, trying to look as though she knew where she was going. As per the plan, Lydia walked over to the fountain in the middle of the Auditorium. Only, it wasn't the fountain that she recognised.

Instead, it was a beautiful witch and handsome wizard sat upon golden thrones. Underneath, the thrones, were grotesque figures with ugly, twisted faces. Large golden letters sat on the base of the fountain. Lydia looked down at the words, going cold as she read them.

 ** _MAGIC IS MIGHT_**

"Have you seen what they're sitting on?" Hermione asked her, slowly walking up to her.

"What?" Lydia asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Muggles,"

"We need to get going," Harry said, in Runcorns deep voice.

"Cattermole!"

The four of them spun around and Lydia very nearly drew her wand for a Death Eater she recognised as Yaxley walked over to them. She quickly stopped herself when she remembered that she didn't look like herself.

"Y-yes?"

"It's still raining in my office," he growled, "and you told me that you'd fix it,"

"O-oh, right. Y-yes, I'll sort it out now," Ron stuttered.

"And please remember, Cattermole, that I'm questioning your wife today," Yaxley said, "I think it's best that you keep yourself in my good books,"

"Y-yes, obviously," Ron said, "I'll go there now,"

Yaxley nodded at Harry, gave Lydia a disapproving look and then stormed off. Ron turned to look at Hermione, his eyes widened in fear. Lydia knew that Ron wouldn't know where to start on stopping someone's office from raining and neither would she. Mafalda Hopkirk had the same look in her eye that Hermione did when needing to figure out a particularly difficult problem in class.

"Put _impervius_ on all his belongings to protect them, and then try _finite incantatem_. That should work," Hermione said quickly.

"If that doesn't work just blow up the office," Lydia offered, "you can't fix an office if it never existed in the first place,"

Ron glared at her and hurried off.

"WALKER!"

"Lydia, that's you," Harry whispered.

She turned around and came face to face with someone who she was quite sure was a Death Eater. He had his wand pointed at her chest and for a moment, she was quite sure that they had been found out, but then he looked at Harry and he lowered his wand.

"Ah," he said, "you found her,"

"Uh...yes," Harry said, frowning slightly, "I did find her,"

The Death Eater smiled, "Good," he turned back to Lydia, "bet you didn't think that we'd find out you were a Mudblood, eh?"

"Mudblood?" Hermione squeaked, "G-Geraldine?"

The Death Eater smiled, "Yes. The family tree she submitted wasn't quite right, was it? Her father was as much of a blood traitor as that Arthur Weasley," He shuddered at the very thought, "I'll take her down to the Dementors then. They might even have a little kiss for her,"

Lydia felt herself go cold and she glanced at Harry who had managed to maintain the stony look of Albert Runcorn. Hermione on the other hand was staring at him open mouthed.

"I thought Dolores wanted you down in the courtroom, Mafalda?" The Death Eater said.

Hermione jumped as though she had been stung. "O-oh yes, of course," she cast a panicked look at Harry and Lydia and then hurried away. Lydia's heart was beating like a hammer against her rib cage and she was sure that she would collapse.

"I'll take her down then - give me your wand, Walker,"

"I've already taken it," Harry said quickly, and he held up his own wand, "I'll come with you,"

"It's not like you to take such an interest in Mudbloods once they're arrested," The Death Eater said, a note of confusion in his voice.

"Yes, well...I have a personal interest in this one," Harry replied smoothly.

"Oh yes, of course," The Death Eater, "I forgot you worked that case together. Come on, then," He gripped Lydia's upper arm and dragged her along with him. A muscle twitched in Harry's jaw, and she was worried that he was going to punch him, but he just quickly followed along, not making eye contact.

As they walked towards the lifts, a hush seemed to fall over the Auditorium as the gathered Ministry workers watched who they thought was Geraldine Walker being taken to receive a Dementors Kiss. Lydia noticed a woman watching her with tears cascading down her cheeks and she realised the magnitude of what Voldemort and Death Eaters were doing. He wasn't just effecting her and Harry, but countless other people who didn't ask for any of this.

She was hauled into the lift and the Death Eater very unceremoniously shoved her against the wall. Her neck snapped back and she hit the back of her head hard. Lights danced before her eyes and she barely registered Harry shouting, "watch it!" at the Death Eater and the slight argument between the two of them.

With a slight ding, the lift came to a halt and the Death Eater pushed her out of the lift. She walked in between the Death Eater and Harry, fighting the urge to curse everyone she came across. Then, she felt someone kick her in the ankle and she fell to the floor with a yelp.

"Don't worry, I'll get her!" Harry called to the Death Eater. He stooped down and grabbed her arm, whispering, "Don't cast a Patronus unless you absolutely have to. I'll come and find you. I promise,"

"Don't be long," she said, "I don't want to- oh no,"

She felt herself go limp in his arms as three Dementors swooped over them and she went cold. There was a distant echo of cold laughter in mind and she fought against it, trying to think of anything else. The Death Eater looked at her and smirked.

"Not nice, are they? Maybe you should have thought about that before you put a lot of my family in Azkaban, shouldn't you?"

Lydia wanted to say something sarcastic, but she didn't have it in her.

"Just sit her there with the rest of the Mudbloods," he said, jerking his head at two rows of benches, "a lot of them today, aren't there?"

"Yeah," Harry said, leading her over to the front bench and sitting her down on it, "say, you don't know what courtroom Dolores is in, do you? I need to speak to her,"

"Courtroom 2, I think. Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, just need to speak to her about some Muggleborn reforms," Harry lied.

The Death Eater wrinkled his nose. "I don't care about all that sort of stuff. I'm much happier rounding them up up," he nodded at Harry, "See you later, Runcorn," and he walked off.

Harry looked at Lydia. "See you soon," he whispered and hurried off down the corridor.

As she sat with the Muggleborns, Lydia kept her hand around her wand in her cloak. Some were sat on their own whilst others were sat with loved ones. She tried to stay as calm as she could, knowing that if she didn't, she'd never be able to cast a Patronus when she needed to. In the space of twenty minutes, Lydia had somehow managed to develop the annoying habit of looking down at her watch every thirty seconds. The Polyjuice Potion would only last an hour. It was strange, Lydia thought, that in a Potions class, an hour seemed to last a lifetime, but in a life or death situation, it flew by. Though, she reflected as she watched another Muggleborn be taken in for questioning, Potions with Professor Snape often felt like a life or death situation.

One of the Muggleborns next to her tutted.

"Remember when we thought that Harry and Lydia Potter were going to put this right?" she said, "It's ridiculous really, putting all your faith into a pair of teenagers,"

"Yeah," the man next to her said, "I though they usually swoop in and save the day last minute. I suppose they're on the run themselves,"

"Nice for some,"

"They are doing something though," Lydia said before she could stop herself, "Or...they're trying,"

"How do you know?"

"I have a hunch,"

"Aurors and their bloody hunches," the man muttered, "if you'd have had a hunch that You-Know-Who was back maybe we wouldn't be in this mess,"

Lydia couldn't help but agree with him. She often wondered what would have happened if Cornelius Fudge and his Ministry had believed that Voldemort was back straight away. Would they have been in the same situation? Would Dumbledore had instructed Lydia and Harry to look for the Horcruxes earlier? They might have been finished earlier, if they had.

Then her skin began to bubble and she knew what was happening.

"Oh no," she whispered, quickly looking down.

"Geraldine...why is your hair black?" The man asked her slowly. She looked up at him and he gasped, almost toppling off his chair, "Y-you're here!"

"No, I'm not. I'm a figment of your imagination,"

"What?"

"Damn, thought that was going to work," she sighed, "Well, time to cause a scene,"

Lydia jumped onto the bench and looked around, casting a Patronus as a Dementor made towards her. There was a loud gasp that turned to the sound of laughter, as though no one could believe she was door at the end of the corridor banged open and Harry ran out, followed by Hermione and a very confused woman who was looking around as though she couldn't believe her eyes.

"POTTER!" It was Yaxley, running down the corridor towards her.

"Remember when you said we usually swoop in and save the day last minute?"

The woman nodded.

"Don't hold your breath - _EXPULSO!_ "

The curse caught a Death Eater in the chest and she flew through the air, crashing into two others. Lydia leapt over the bench and over to Harry and Hermione. This was definitely not a part of the plan, but nothing they did ever went to plan. Hermione shot to jinxes over the top of Harry's head as he turned to address the Muggleborns.

"Who here has a wand?" He asked.

About half of them raised their hands.

"OK. Those who don't have a wand, attach yourself to someone who does and follow us. Don't hold back on any jinxes because they won't," he said quickly, "And- oh, Merlin. Dementors!"

Lydia looked down at her left hand and her eyes fell on her ring. The sound of George laughing echoed through her mind.

" _Expecto Patronum!_ "

Another doe burst from the end of her wand and charged the Dementors that was coming towards them, followed by a stag. Hermione, on the other hand, was struggling to produce her patronus and Lydia could tell that she was getting more and more frustrated with herself.

"It's the only spell she's ever struggled with," Harry said, "It's a bit of a shame, really - come on, Hermione!"

Finally, an Otter burst from her wand and swam through the air to meet the Stag and the Doe. Lydia grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her after Harry as he ran to the lifts, herding as many of the Muggleborns into it as he could. Lydia had dissolved into a complete state of panic and was hopping from one foot to the other as the lift ascended through the floors of the Ministry.

They ran out into the Auditorium to a group of Death Eaters. Hermione blasted them out of the way and Lydia looked around, calling for Ron. What if he d been caught? What if the Death Eaters had him? But then Harry yelled, "there he is!" and a soaking wet Ron ran over to them, gasping for breath.

"THERE THEY ARE! LOCK DOWN THE FIRES!" Yaxley yelled, running over to them.

"Ah, shit, forgot about him," Lydia said. She whirled round to the Muggleborns, "GET GOING THEN!"

" _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

Yaxley blocked the spell and it richotted off the fountain. He set a stunning spell her way but she managed to deflect it and it hit another Death Eater who was advancing on her from the other side. Behind her, Lydia could hear Harry, Ron and Hermione shouting for her to hurry up. Grates were blocking the entrances to the fireplaces, and they were five fireplaces away from being trapped.

" _DEPULSO_!"

The spell finally found home and Lydia took off running, grabbing Hermione's outstretched hand. Just as Lydia was pulled into the fireplace, she felt someone else grab her wrist. Lydia briefly saw the front door of Grimmauld Place and began to calm down, but then she head Hermione shout a spell and she felt her feet leave the ground again.

"Oh, Great Merlin..." Hermione breathed, "We did it..."

Lydia looked around. They were stood in a house that she had never seen before. No pictures lined the walls and it looked as thought hadn't been lived in for a while, though it gave the impression of once being quite homely.

"Where are we- Ron!"

Hermione looked around and gasped. Ron was slumped against Harry and had gone pale. Blood poured out of his arm at an alarming rate. Hermione lead him to the couch and chucked her ended bag at Lydia.

"Find Essence of Dittany!" She said hurriedly, "Quickly! He's been splinched!"

" _Accio_ _Dittany!_ "

A small bottle of something that Lydia had only ever seen in the Hospital Wing few out of the bag and into her hand. She handed it to Hermione who began to pour liberal amounts of it onto Ron's arm. Immediately, the cut healed up and formed a sling. Ron stopped shivering and fell asleep. Some colour returned to his face.

Where are we?" Harry asked.

"My parents house," Hermione said, "I didn't know where else to go. I don't think we can go back to Grimmauld Place. We gave away the location,"

Lydia jumped up and raised her wand, muttering all of the protective enchantments that she had researched.

" _Protego Totalum, Salvio Hexia, Repello Muggletum, Muffilato, Cave Inimicium, Protego horribillis_ ,"

" _Protego horribilis?_ " Harry asked.

"I heard Flitwick talking about it," Lydia shrugged, "I thought it'd be safe to use. So, did you get it?"

Harry held up a thick, golden locket, smiling slightly, "Got it,"

Lydia grinned and took it off him. The moment she picked it up, she knew it was the real Horcrux. It felt alive. She was sure she could feel a heartbeat.

"So...do we know how to destroy it?" Lydia asked.

"No," Harry said, "but we'll figure something out,"

"That's what you always say,"

"That's what we always do,"


	21. The Hunt Begins

_**You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.**_

 _ **-George Lucas**_

" _EXPULSO_!"

The locket shot into the air and fell back to the ground with a dull thump. Hermione tutted and looked through the spell book she was holding, biting down on her lip. They were still at Hermione's parents house. The protective enchantments actually seemed to be working and no one had bothered them. Not even Death Eaters, and Lydia was convinced that there were probably some patrolling the area. She and Ron were sat on the decking in the back garden, watching Harry and Hermione try to destroy the locket. Lydia didn't think that they would get very far, but it made them feel like they were doing something.

Ron had been in a bad mood since they had come back from the Ministry. His arm still hadn't healed properly and, with it being his wand arm, he hadn't been able to do much. The Horcrux hadn't been helping, either. After going through so much to get the locket, the four of them were terrified of losing it and wore it in shifts. It seemed to affect everyone differently; Ron sunk into an even worse mood when he was wearing it, Harry and Hermione became very weak and tired and Lydia didn't feel too different, which worried it her. There was no denying that she was unhappier when she was wearing it, and she found it harder to do magic, but it didn't affect her in the same way as it did the others.

"Do you think it's weird?" Lydia had asked Harry one evening, "that it doesn't bother me so much?"

"I don't know, it's probably because you're already so much of a twat already," He shrugged.

There was another explosion and Lydia jumped. Both Harry and Hermione had tried to blow the Horcrux up at the same time to no success. Lydia related her and on her chin as she watched them. Part of her wanted to tell them to give up, but she knew that they had to try, despite how arduous the process was becoming. Ron kept on prodding an old beat up radio with his wand, and muttering under his breath. It took everything in Lydia to not stun him.

"Have you tried _confringo_?" Lydia asked, "or _Incendio_?"

" _Incendio_!" Hermione cried.

Fire curled around the locket but then sputtered and died. Hermione sighed and returned to her book. Harry was still trying to destroy the Horcrux. Lydia tried to shout for him to stop, but gave up when she realised that he would sooner destroy the Horcrux than actually listen to her. She wondered why Dumbledore had never actually told them how to destroy the Horcruxes. He had left them with little to no instructions and the thing that they had to do wasn't exactly easy. It was the exact opposite of easy, actually, Lydia thought as Harry waved his wand over and over again.

They lasted at Hermione's house exactly a week. One morning, Harry had shook them all awake, shouting about Death Eaters on the street. Lydia leapt from where she was sleeping on the couch and peeked through the curtains. Two Death Eaters were stood on the other side of the street, looking quite bored.

"Do you think we need to leave?" Lydia asked.

"Not yet," Hermione said, running a hand through her hair, "We can stay a while. The enchantments will keep them out for now. Besides, we can't go anywhere yet," she glanced at Ron who sat at the kitchen table, looking over a chess board.

"How are we going to get out to get food?" Harry asked.

"We'll just have to use the Invisibility Cloak," Lydia said, "And try and get as much as we can. That way we hopefully won't have to go out again,"

"Are we ever going to go out again?" Ron asked moodily, "or are we going to spend the rest of our lives in this damn house?"

Harry opened his house to retaliate but Hermione put her hand on his arm and shook her head, "Don't start arguing. He's struggling,"

"Yeah, and the rest of us are doing just fine," Harry snapped, storming from the room and slamming the back door behind him.

Ron looked quite satisfied with himself and turned back to his chess board. Hermione shook her head and tightly shut the curtains. Lydia sighed and followed Harry out into the back garden. She found him sat on the decking, staring directly ahead of him. She sat down next to him in silence. If he realised that she was there, he didn't look over and acknowledge her.

Lydia didn't try and say anything to him, and instead just rested her head on his shoulder. They didn't have to say anything to each other, because they both knew exactly what the other was thinking. Maybe it was a twin thing, maybe they were both just equally depressed about how depressing their lives really were. Lydia knew that he was grappling with the feelings he felt for both Ginny and Draco, and though she would never say it to him, Lydia was quite sure that whatever Harry felt for Draco was more genuine for whatever he felt for Ginny.

She knew how unhappy he had been in sixth year, and she still kicked herself for not being there for him, but in the weeks when he and Draco were together, she could see how happy he was. There was a light in his eyes that she hadn't seen for years and, on the rare occasion that she was in the Great Hall, his roaring laughter was the loudest noise of all. And that had all disappeared when he and Draco had broken up.

In fifth year, or even fourth year, he and Ginny might have been the perfect couple, but now, they were the direct antithesis of whatever the perfect couple was. They were too different, too distant and were at completely different points in their lives. Ginny had her entire life ahead of her. Harry could only have a matter of months, and Lydia felt like Draco would understand that better. Not that it mattered anymore, anyway.

Really, Lydia would love nothing more than to tell Harry all of this, but they really weren't in the correct situation to do so. Lydia wouldn't even let herself think about George, because when she did, she felt her heart become heavy again and her mind would wander to places that she didn't want it to. What would he do if she died? Who he find someone else? That's what she would want him to do, she would hate the thought of him being alone for the rest of his life. But, deep down, her mind roared with jealousy at the thought of some other girl being with George...of him buying flowers for her and knowing exactly what to say to make her laugh when she was sad.

Even worse, she thought about what would happen if he died. The fact that she was only seventeen didn't escape her, but she couldn't imagine being with someone who wasn't George. She couldn't imagine waking up in the morning and thinking about going on a date with someone else, walking down the street a hand in hand with someone else or having someone else sliding a not quite engagement ring onto her finger.

Then, of course, there was the paralysing thought of leaving Harry behind. There was no denying that her brother was clever and more than capable of looking after himself, but she often thought about that one time in second year when he and Ron had gone into the Forbidden Forest for the first time without her and Hermione and they had nearly gotten killed by Acromantula. And then, of course, there was the time in third year when he managed to transfigure his right arm into a cactus trying to jinx Crabbe. The memory still brought tears of laughter to Ron and Hermione's eyes.

Lydia hated the thought of not being there for Ron or Hermione. Ron had been Harry and Lydia's first friend in the Wizarding World and had been one of the quickest Gryffindors to accept her despite the Slytherin thing. And as much as she loved Harry and Ron, and as much as she knew Hermione loved Harry and Ron, her and Hermione often found solace in each other when Harry and Ron got too much for them to handle. The two of them had very quickly learned that time alone with each other was the best remedy when Harry and Ron were being so...male.

"What do you think dad would tell us to do if he were here now?" Harry asked, finally breaking the silence.

Lydia sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"He'd probably tell us to stick together," she said.

"Because that's all we have, isn't it? Each other,"

Lydia nodded, "Yeah. That's all we have," she sighed, "have you realised that it's probably just going to come down to me and you? That there's going to be times when even Ron and Hermione can't help?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. It's just going to me and you against him. As always,"

Lydia bit down on her lip to stop herself from crying. Just behind them, she could hear Ron still prodding the radio and muttering under her breath. She had no idea what she was doing, but Hermione kept on telling them to lay off him because he was injured. She didn't know about Harry's morals, but Lydia was more than happy to jinx anyone, regardless of how injured they were.

"What is he doing?" Harry muttered, looking behind them at the house.

"My head in," Lydia said, "or maybe his own head in. I don't know," She looked up at her brother, "We'll manage it, you know. We'll kill him, somehow,"

"I know," he said quietly, "I know,"

Back inside, Hermione was still pouring over all her books.

"What do you think he could have chosen from Gryffindor?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged.

"Hey, you don't think that it could be the sword, could you? Why else would Dumbledore leave it me?" Lydia asked eagerly.

Hermione bit her lip.

"Maybe...but I don't know why he didn't just destroy it whilst he had it..." said Hermione, "He already destroyed the ring, didn't he - oh my god,"

"What?" Harry asked.

"Basilisk fangs!" Hermione exclaimed, "That's what Harry destroyed the diary with!"

"Sometimes I feel like we all forget that I killed a massive snake when we talk about the Chamber of Secrets. I was only twelve, you know," muttered Lydia, "Nearly died I did, but sure, Harry stabbed a diary,"

Hermione waved her down. Lydia rolled her eyes and dropped down onto the couch as Hermione paced up and down the living room, wringing her hands together. Harry watched her go, not saying anything. Lydia felt as though all they ever did was hit brick wall after brick wall and Ron was doing nothing to help them. If it weren't the fact that he actually needed it, Lydia would have happily snapped his wand in half it meant that he stopped poking that damn radio.

"Where are we going to get basilisk fangs from?" Harry asked, "They aren't exactly easy to come by...I doubt they'd even be on the black market. There's only one Basilisk in Britain and its in Hogwarts,"

"Friendly reminder that I killed-"

"Maybe we'll have to go back to Hogwarts," Hermione said, interrupting Lydia. "Though, at this point, it could be suicide,"

"At this point, anything we do is suicide," Lydia pointed out, "Can I remind you all that there's a massive group of Death Eaters outside?"

"There's no way we would be able to get into Hogwarts, anyway," Harry said, "Now that Snape is Headmaster, Voldemort-"

"Don't say the name!" Ron said.

"What?" Harry said exasperatedly.

"It feels wrong to say it. It's like...disrespectful to say it-"

"Disrespectful? Ron, he killed my-"

"Never mind, Harry, just don't say it," Hermione said quickly.

"Fine," Harry said, "Now that Snape is Headmaster, You-Know-Who will have full control of the school. I imagine he will have closed up all the secret entrances. He would have managed to find them all out,"

"What about the Vanishing Cabinets?" Lydia suggested, "It goes straight to the Room of Requirement, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but Malfoy knows about that, doesn't he?" Hermione said, "We'd get found out. It's not like we're best friends with him, is it?"

They spoke about every possible way to get into Hogwarts, but each suggesting seemed more ridiculous than the last. Dumbledore had put a million and one protective enchantments on Hogwarts the previous year, and Lydia was certain that Voldemort would have used the Dark Arts to his advantage and put more on that they could never take down. They entertained the idea of trying to contact Neville, Ginny or Luna for all of three seconds, until they remembered that the post would definitely be being checked. They still had the DA Galleons, but they would only display the time and date of a meeting.

"We definitely should have taken a leaf out of dads book and become an Animagus," Harry muttered as midnight neared, "I bet we'd have been able to sneak in then,"

"No, we wouldn't," Hermione said, "You're Animagus form is usually the same as your patronus. You two would have been recognised immediately. Me and Ron on the other hand..."

"Ah, yes, a Jack Russell and an Otter, something you see everyday at Hogwarts," Lydia said.

"To be fair, it's not the weirdest thing that someone could see at Hogwarts," Hermione reasoned, "Not that that matters, anyway. We can't go back to Hogwarts. It's too silly. We must think about something else-"

There were two knocks on the front door and everyone became very still. Harry dropped to the floor and crawled over to the window, looking out onto the drive. He swore and dropped back down the floor, and turned back around to them, his eyes wide.

"I don't want to freak anyone out, but there is a Death Eater knocking on the door," Harry whispered.

"Is he delivering Pizza?" Lydia asked.

"Obviously not," Harry said, "why in the name of Merlin would he be delivering pizza?"

"I don't-"

" _BOMBARDA_!"

Hermione screamed. Lydia dived across the room towards Ron and dragged him up, shoving him towards the back door. Harry waved his wand and all their belongings flew back into Hermione's bag. The door to the living room burst open and two Death Eaters barged in. Lydia flicked her wand and the couch flew towards them, catching them both in the stomach.

Not waiting to see if they were coming after them, they ran out into the back garden and jumped over the back wall. Once they were out of the range of their protective enchantments, Hermione grabbed them all and they Apparated away. Lydia got a brief glimpse of another Death Eater and then they were stood in the middle of a field, alone again.

"Is your arm OK, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," he mumbled, though Lydia thought he looked a bit pale.

"Lydia, put the tent up, would you?" Hermione said, throwing the beaded bag at her, "I'll put these enchantments up,"

"The tent?" Harry asked, frowning.

"It's in the bag,"

"It's in the-"

" _Accio tent_ ,"

The tent that the boys had stayed in at the Quidditch World Cup zoomed out of the bag and landed at Harry's feet, who was staring at it open mouthed. Lydia flicked her wand at it and it sprang up, settling itself into the ground. Ron lead the way in as Hermione moved around them, muttering the protective enchantments.

They only lasted here two days, moving again to the outskirts of a small market town where they lasted just one after Harry encountered some Dementor. So they moved again.

And again.

And again.

It wasn't ideal. Not being able to stay in one place meant that they couldn't plan anything. Ron was becoming moodier and moodier, and Lydia didn't miss the whispered conversations he had with Hermione about how they knew nothing, how Dumbledore had told Harry nothing. And Lydia agreed with them, but she never said anything. The only way they were going to do this, if that she and Harry stayed on the same team. They could do anything if they were on the same team, their past proved that.

And it wasn't as though Harry wasn't trying to find the Horcruxes. They visited a village that Voldemort had reportedly lived in for a while, but found nothing. They went to the village where Tom Riddle had killed his family, but found nothing and even went as far as going to the orphanage where had been brought up, but found that it had been knocked down and replaced with offices.

Hermione suggested that they dig around in the foundations but Harry shook his head.

"If it were here, I would be able to feel it,"

The one place that kept on cropping up in their long discussions was Hogwarts. It made sense to Lydia that Voldemort would leave a Horcrux there. That had, after all, been his first home and the first place he had felt genuine happiness, if he could feel such an emotion. But, as Hermione kept on pointing out, there was no way they would ever be able to go back. Lydia didn't like to think about the fact that one of the Horcruxes could be there because it would be practically impossible for them to get it. She kept on wondering if Voldemort somehow knew that they were looking for Horcruxes and had purposely hidden one of them somewhere he knew they would never be able to get to.

"The other Horcruxes don't matter if we can't find a way to kill this one," Ron kept on unhelpfully pointing out.

"There must be something I'm missing," Hermione kept on saying over and over again.

"I know what I'm missing," Lydia muttered, "my will to live,"


	22. Breaking Point

**_"Everybody has a breaking point._**

 ** _It's tough to ignore the impulse to respond with anger."_**

 ** _-Andrew Shaffer_**

Days stretched into weeks and weeks into months. Before they knew it, November had caught up with them and they had achieved nothing. Any positive thoughts that Lydia had been having melted away, only to be replaced by the reality of the situation; they had no idea what they were doing. The bitter November wind did not bring them any inspiration and the heavy rain was nothing but a distraction as it beat down loudly on the canvas of the tent.

Ron was still dedicating his time to prodding the radio, Hermione spent most days curled up in a chair pouring over her many books and Harry often sat in the mouth of the tent, staring into the mirror that Sirius had given him one Christmas whilst the snitch Dumbledore left him hovered next to him. The words, "I open at the close," were etched onto it, and Lydia still couldn't work out what it meant. Maybe it was the close of the Horcrux hunt. Though, Lydia could not see that ending for years.

"Lyds?" Harry called.

"Mhmm?" she said from where she was lay on her bunk bed.

"C'mere,"

Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed and walked over to him. He was still staring into the mirror, his brows furrowed slightly. Lydia tugged at the Horcrux hanging around her neck and tried to tell herself that the reason she wanted to hit the mirror out of his hand was because of the Horcrux, and not because she was a terrible person. Though, the jury was still out on the latter.

"Look at this mirror," he said, shoving it in her hands.

Lydia looked into it and grimaced. She hadn't realised how terrible she looked. There were deep bags under her bloodshot eyes and her hair looked even worse than usual. She had lost so much weight that she looked almost gaunt. It wasn't a good look and she quickly handed it back to Harry.

"Why are you giving me this?" She asked.

"Because I think I can see Dumbledore's eye in it," he said.

The words hung in the air for a moment as Lydia tried to think of the nicest way to respond to him. They had never gotten around to giving James the other mirror.

"Harry. Dumbledore is dead,"

"No, I know," he said quickly, "but he had dads Invisibility Cloak, didn't he? What if he got his mirror as well?"

"That's a great theory, Harry, but that doesn't change the fact that he's dead," Lydia said bluntly.

"Remember what he said in first year?" Harry asked, "after we got the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Uh-"

"'To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure,'" he recited, "What-what if he was really organised? What if he knew what was going to happen and he's looking out for us, somehow?"

"H, I think that's what he just said to make us feel better about the fact that Nicolas Flamel was going to die," Lydia said, "I don't think he meant-"

"How do you know?" He asked, earnestly, "How do you know he's not still out there?"

"I don't know," Lydia admitted, "I don't know that he's not out there, but I don't think we should focus on that. There's bigger things to worry about,"

"Just keep it on you, please, and keep on checking,"

After this, they didn't speak about Dumbledore again, though it did catch Lydia's attention. When she couldn't sleep, which was most nights, she sat cross legged on her bunk bed, the mirror propped up facing her. She would read a book, or pour over the Marauders Map, her eyes flickering up to the mirror every now and then. Annoyingly, she never saw anything. Although Lydia had had a very different relationship with Dumbledore than Harry had, she did like the thought of Dumbledore still being out there, somehow, looking out for them and maybe even helping them if they never progressed from where they currently were.

"I've got it!" Ron yelled.

"Got what?" Lydia asked, climbing down from her bunk and walking over to him.

"This - listen!" He said, pointing at the radio as Harry and Hermione wandered over.

"Welcome back to Potterwatch ! Sorry about our brief absence, but that is because of housecalls from those lovely Death Eaters! Honestly, what we do without them?" Came a familiar voice from the radio , "As always, I am your host River-"

"Is that Lee Jordan?" Harry asked, laughing.

"And I am joined today by my lovely co-host, Rodent-"

"I told you, I'm being called Rapier! Not Rodent! He can be Rodent!" An angry voice said.

"That's Fred!" Ron said, "no, wait. It's George-"

"Fine, I'll be Rodent," came the exasperated voice of George Weasley.

"That's George," Lydia said.

"So, Rapier, what stories can you tell me about the Dark Lord? Or, as I like to call him, Chief Death Eater," Lee asked, "he has been as elusive as our dear Potter siblings, hasn't he?"

"Quite right," Fred agreed, "although, I do believe that the Potters are being elusive to stay alive and You-Know-Who is being elusive because he likes to maintain an air of mystery, which is a good strategy if you're trying to be as terrifying as possible. Mind you, if all these sightings of You-Know-Who are real, then there's about nineteen of him running about,"

"Bad news if you're a Potter," George said, " and bad news for the rest of us, actually,"

They all laughed. It was amazing what a few jokes could do to lift their mood. The sound of his brothers voices seemed to do wonders for Ron, who was no longer looking like he wanted to murder them all.

"Most news is bad news if you're a Potter. None of them have ever gotten a break," Fred sighed, " What would be even worse news for them, if such a thing existed, would be if You-Know-Who could indeed kill someone with a single look, which is a strange rumour that is floating around,"

"Do people genuinely believe that?" Lee asked.

"Unfortunately," Fred sighed, "folks, let me get one thing straight - the only thing that will kill you with one look is a Basilisk,"

"Yes, there's a very simple test to carry out," George said, "if the thing you're looking at has no legs, then it is a Basilisk. In which case, you turn around and run in the opposite direction. But, if the thing you're looking at has legs, it You-Know-Who. I don't really have any advice for you because he'd probably just kill you,"

"Depending on who you are, of course," Lee added, "though if you're listening to this, I do believe that you'll be very high on his kill list,"

"Who do you think does the admin for the Death Eaters? You know, who writes the kill list?" George asked, "because someone has to do it and I doubt it's the big guy himself...surely he's got better things to be doing,"

Lydia felt like the laughter that filled the tent would have defeated Voldemort, Horcruxes destroyed or not. Even Hermione was laughing and wiping tears from her eyes as Fred and George began to have a fierce debate about who would be doing Voldemort's admin between Yaxley and Lucius Malfoy. George was making a good case for Yaxley but, as Fred pointed out, no one liked the Malfoys.

"The Malfoys don't even like the Malfoys!" He kept on repeating, "You-Know-Who wouldn't want them doing his exciting work, would he? He'd just want them to do the shitty stuff. Kind of like how Dumbledore gave Lockhart the Defence Against the Dark Arts position knowing he'd be gone in a year,"

"That's all well and good, but does Lucius Malfoy even know how to hold a quill? I'm quite sure the only thing he's good at is walking around and being ignorant," George said, "and being a general dickhead,"

"Shut up, Rodent,"

"Don't use my code name against me. That's low,"

Lee cleared his throat very loudly and Lydia was suddenly transported back to Hogwarts. She had lost count of the times that she had seen Lee stood in between Fred and George when they were bickering about what spell would inconvenience the Slytherins the most, rolling his eyes and coughing loudly. He seemed to be one of the only people in the world who was able to shut the two of them up with one simple noise. Lydia still hadn't quite found the best way to shut George up when he was going on with himself at four in the morning when all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Anyway," Lee said loudly, "that's all the time we have today! Thank-you for listening! Next week's password is Padfoot. Keep on twiddling those dials and keep the faith in the Potters!"

The radio cut off. The four of them looked at each other and then burst into laughter again. Ron shook his head and put the radio back onto the table, grinning broadly. Harry was holding his side from laughing so much, his glasses hanging off his face.

"They could get into so much trouble!" Hermione said anxiously.

"Only if they're not careful," Ron said, "they're not stupid. You have to have a certain password for each broadcast and they probably move around a lot. They'll be fine,"

The effect that Potterwatch had on the four of them was amazing. The knowledge that they weren't the only ones fighting was enough to not drive Lydia to find Voldemort and let him kill her. Even Ron was in a much better mood and was actually bearable when he was wearing the Horcrux. Lydia still tried not to think about how the Horcrux didn't affect her like it did the others. She felt like there was some darker reasoning behind it and she really didn't want to find out what it was.

"Lydia, do you know what this is?" Hermione asked her, handing her the copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard that Dumbledore had left her.

"Yes, Hermione, this is a book,"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "No, this ," she pointed at something that had been scribbled onto the title page. It was a triangle with a circle and line inside it. Lydia frowned and peered closer at it. It almost looked like an eye and was vaguely familiar.

"It looks like an eye," she said, "have we seen it before?"

"That's what I was thinking," Hermione said, "I thought that it was a rune at first but I don't recognise it. I don't think that we learned it in school and I checked all our Ancient Runes books but it's not in there,"

"Xenophilius Lovegood!"

"Bless you," Ron said.

"No, Luna's dad. He was wearing it at the wedding!" Lydia said, "Remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Harry said, "and then Viktor Krum got really angry about it. He said it was the sign of Grindelwald,"

"Grindelwald?" Lydia asked, "the Dark Wizard that Dumbledore killed? What would Xenophilius be doing wearing the sign of a Dark Wizard?"

"To be fair, he probably thought that it was the cross section of the head of a Crumple Horned-Snorkack," Ron shrugged.

"You don't think it's important, do you?" Harry asked Hermione, "why else would he leave you the book?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted, "It could have something to do with Horcruxes, but...I don't see what..." she gazed at the symbol again, "we should have asked him what it was at the wedding..."

"We need to just focus on the Horcruxes," Lydia said firmly, "if that symbol does having something to do with them, then we'll work it out, won't we? And if not, then it's a problem for another day,"

"Yeah, right," Harry said, standing up and stretching.

Hermione looked back down at her book and curled up in a chair, flicking through it. Her stomach rumbling, Lydia sat at the kitchen table, her mind working in overdrive. She couldn't imagine that Dumbledore would leave them random objects, that wasn't the sort of thing that he would do. Her eyes flickered over to Ron, he was sat facing her, poking his wand at the radio again. The Deluminator that Dumbledore had left him was lay on the table next to him. Lydia couldn't imagine what other use apart from turning the lights on and off. Still, she couldn't help but imagine that they had to be used for something other than lights and a bit of light reading.

The snitch hovered above Harry's head and she watched it. It made no sense to her. Nothing made any sense to her, apart from the sword, which could be a Horcrux. Lydia rubbed her temples. If it was a Horcrux, why didn't Dumbledore destroy it when he had the chance? Unless it wasn't a Horcrux, but Lydia couldn't understand why else would he-

"Welcome back to Potterwatch,"

The voice of Lee Jordan interrupted her thoughts. She turned to look at the radio as Harry and Hermione came in to join them.

"Um..this...this is a bit of a strange one because I've just received news that Rodent was taken by the Death Eaters," He said, "Rapier contacted me this morning to tell me. I, uh, I don't really know what to say, actually. I am joined today by Romulus, to give us some words of encouragement. Or...something,"

Lydia put her head in her hands, fighting back tears. The not-quite engagement ring seemed heavy on her finger. "Let him come," George had said to her after James' funeral. Lydia had warned him that this might happen. They should have just put their feelings aside and broken up, that way this would never have happened.

"Thank-you, River,"

"Remus!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Any news?" Lee asked, "Anything about Harry or Lydia Potter?"

"Nothing ," Remus said, "but, I do not think that they are dead as some people seem to believe. You-Know-Who would not keep their deaths quiet, no, I believe that they are both still out there and still fighting. And, if I could speak to them, I would tell them both to keep a cool head and not do something stupid, no matter what they might hear,"

"Thank-you for those encouraging words, Romulus," Lee said, "And, any word on Rodent?" There was a note of pleading in Lee's voice.

A silence followed this.

"I...no, nothing at this point. But we are looking and we won't stop until we find something," Remus promised.

"Thank-you, Romulus, and this is where our broadcast comes to an end. The next password will be Fabio ,"

Lydia still didn't look up. She could hear Ron breathing heavily. Harry put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly. Finally, she looked up. Ron was holding onto the edge of the table so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.

"Ron?" Hermione asked in a small voice, "R-Ron?"

He stood up very suddenly, kicking the chair away from him. Harry stood up at once, holding his hand out.

"Ron, don't-"

"Don't tell me how to react to this! This is my brother, we're talking about!" He yelled, "George is probably dead and-"

"Don't say that!" Hermione said, "he won't be-"

"It's her fault!" shouted Ron, pointing at Lydia, "if it weren't for you, the Death Eaters wouldn't give a damn about him!"

"Are you for real?" Lydia snapped, "Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I wanted the Death Eaters to go after him? He knew what he was getting into! We spoke about it all the time! I told him that they might-"

"You should have done more! Merlin, the shit that's happened to him because of you! He's lost an ear and now the Death Eaters have probably killed him!"

"Don't blame her!" Harry yelled, shoving Ron in the shoulder, "it's not her fault! It's no ones fault! We just need to stick together and look for Horcruxes-"

"Oh, don't make me laugh!" Ron snapped, "we're no closer to finding another one than we are to destroying that fucking Locket!"

"We're trying our best!" Harry yelled, "what more do you want? Did you think we'd be staying in five star hotels? Do you think you'd be back with your mum by Christmas?"

"I just thought we'd have made some more progress by now! I thought you had a plan!" Ron said, his voice deadly calm.

Lydia looked away from them, tears streaming down her face.

" I told you everything that Dumbledore told me," Harry said.

"Do you know why I listen to that radio all the time? To make sure I don't hear someone's name! And now you're expecting me to act like it never happened?"

"No one is expecting you to do that!" Lydia yelled, "Do you think I'm going to be able to-"

"You don't know how this feels! Your family is dead!" Ron yelled, "you don't know what it's like!"

"Ron, Ron!" Hermione said, rushing towards him, "take the Horcrux off! You wouldn't be saying this if you hadn't been wearing it all day!"

Lydia gasped and took a step back from him. No cruciatus curse would ever match the pain she felt from Ron saying this. Ron, who she counted as her family. Ron, who she loved like a brother and who she might one day call her brother-in-law. Lydia watched a wave of hurt wash over Harry's face as Ron said the unthinkable. Harry's hand went straight to his wand, and Ron did the same but Lydia was quicker than either of them.

" _Protego_!"

The invisible shield expanded between them. Separating Ron from Lydia, Harry and Hermione. The force of the spell forced them backwards. Harry and Ron were looking at each other in a way that they had never before. Next to Lydia, Hermione was crying quietly.

"Then GO!" Harry roared, "see if I care!"

"Fine!" Ron yelled. He turned to Hermione, "Are you coming or are you staying?"

"What - Ron, I'm staying! Obviously, I'm staying! We said we'd help them!" Hermione said.

"Leave the Horcrux," Harry said.

Ron yanked the chain from his neck and threw it down onto the armchair. Before he left, he looked at Hermione.

"I get it. You choose him,"

"What? Ron! No! Come back! Come back!"

She tried to go after him but the Shield Charm stopped him. By the time Lydia removed it, Ron had already left the tent, taking his bag with him. Hermione swept past them, and Harry and Lydia stood in silence, staring at each other.

"It's not your fault," he said, "don't blame yourself,"

After a few minutes, Hermione returned to the tent, her wet hair plastered to her face.

"He's gone! He disapparated!" She cried, throwing herself into a chair and beginning to cry.

"I'm taking first watch," Lydia said into the silence.

No one argued.


	23. Professor Black

" _ **If I fall, I'll take the fall and get up and keep going,"**_

 _ **-Mirai Nagasu**_

Lydia stared blankly ahead of her as heavy rain beat down around her. It had only been two hours since Ron had left, and she had never felt so betrayed in her life. To blame her for Georges capture and then to say that she had no idea what it was like to lose people it made her want to punch someone. Possibly him. She angrily wiped the tears from her eyes and stared into the trees. As much as she did want to fight him, she also wanted to hug him because at least he knew how she was feeling about George.

They should have just broken up before it was to late. After fifth year, Lydia should have just broken up with him and got it out of the way. Even though it was the last thing that she wanted to do, at least he would have been safe. At least would have just been back at The Burrow with the others, not having to fight for his life. She tried not to think of where he was. A flash of green light seemed to cloud her very being every time she thought about him, only to be replaced by the image of his body lay spread eagled on the ground, his blue eyes blank.

"Lydia, do you want me to take over?" Harry asked.

"No, it's fine," she said, "I probably won't sleep, anyway,"

He sat down next to her.

"He didn't mean what he said," Harry said, "About George...it's not your fault,"

"What if it is, though?" Lydia asked, "I mean, if we were never together in the first place they wouldn't have come after him," she ran a hand through her hair, "we should have just broken up,"

"Did you want to break up with him, though?" Harry asked.

"Obviously not, but-"

"There you go then," he said firmly, "You didn't want to break up with him so you didn't. And, Lydia, you even said it yourself...he knew what he was getting into. He's not stupid,"

"I mean, I can think of many times when he was very stupid," Lydia muttered.

Harry laughed and shook his head, "You know what I mean,"

"I still think I was stupid. You broke up with Ginny," she said, "And you didn't want to, did you?" He didn't say anything, "Oh, wait...you did?"

"We're talking about your disastrous love life, not mine,"

The next morning, they ate breakfast in silence and Lydia was quite sure that none of them had slept. Harry put the Horcrux around his neck as Hermione got all their things together. Lydia pretended not to notice that Hermione was dawdling. She kept on unpacking and packing her bag. Harry was obsessively looking around, as though waiting for a ginger-haired figure to emerge from the trees. And as angry as she was at Ron, Lydia couldn't help but do the same thing.

In the end, they couldn't stay any longer. They joined hands and Apparated away to the bottom of a windswept hill near a stream. Hermione dropped their hands straight away and walked away from them. Lydia and Harry glanced at each other but didn't say anything. Harry put up the tent whilst Lydia walked around them, putting the protective enchantments up. Once they were done, Hermione, without looking at either them, walked into the tent and dropped down into the armchair, burying her face into a book. Though, Lydia was quite sure that she was only using the book to stop them from seeing that she was crying.

The most annoying thing about what Ron had said, was that it was all true. He was right, they were no closer to finding another Horcrux and had gone on what Lydia was beginning to think was a suicide mission, with little to no information about what they actually had to do. Since August, all they had come across was a radio station and a locket. It wasn't really much to brag about.

"Can you hear talking?" Harry asked suddenly one evening.

"Can I hear- oh, wait...yes," Lydia said, jumping up.

"Did you put all the enchantments up?" Hermione asked

"Yes. About five times. I do it obsessively," she said. She grabbed her bag and pulled out three Extendable Ears, passing them to Harry and Hermione.

"There ought to be a few salmon in here, or d'you reckon it's too early in the season?" Asked a weary male voice, " _Accio Salmon_!"

There were several splashed and then the slapping sounds of fish against flesh. Lydia's stomach grumbled but she ignored it and pressed the Ear deeper into her own. Over the rushing sound of the stream, she could hear a language that wasn't English. There seemed to be two speakers, one had a slightly lower voice than the other.

The first man spoke again.

"Here, Griphook, Gornuk,"

"Goblins," Hermione whispered.

"Thank-you," the goblins said together.

"So, how long have you three been on the run?" asked another voice, "has it been long?"

"That's Tonk's dad, Ted," Harry muttered to them, "I didn't know he was on the run..."

"Six weeks...maybe seven. I don't know, I lose count," said the first weary voice, "Met up with Griphook first, and then Gornuk," he sighed, "Nice to have a bit of company, isn't it? What made you leave, Ted?"

"Knew they were coming for me," Ted replied, "I heard Death Eaters were in the are last week and decided I better run for it. I refused to register as a Muggle-born, see. So I knew it was a matter time. My wife is pure-blood though, so she should be OK. Then I met Dean, here, what, a few days ago, son?"

"Yeah," said another voice. Lydia almost shouted in excitement as she recognised the voice of Dean Thomas.

"Muggle-born?" asked the first man.

"No idea," said Dean, "My dad left my mum when I was a kid. I've got not proof he was a wizard, though,"

There was silence for a while as they began to eat, but then Ted spoke again.

"I've got to say, Dirk, I'm surprised to run into you. Pleased, of course, but surprised all the same. Word was you'd been caught,"

"I was," said Dirk, "I was halfway to Azkaban when I made a break for it, Stunned Dawlish and nicked his broom. It was easier than you'd think, actually. I don't reckon he's quite right at the moment. Probably Confunded,"

"So where do you two fit in?" Ted asked and Lydia was sure he was speaking to the Goblins, "I was under the impression that the Goblins were, er, for the other side,"

"You had a false impression," said the higher-voiced of the goblins, "We take no sides. This is a wizards war,"

"How come you're in hiding, then?"

"The sword of Gryffindor,"

Lydia almost screamed. Hermione punched her in the side, her eyes wide.

"Lost here," Dean said.

"Didn't you hear about the kids that tried to steal Gryffindor's sword out of Snape's office?" Dirk asked.

"I work with Bill Weasley at the bank. It was his younger sister and a couple of her friends," Griphook said, "Snape caught them trying to get the sword back down the staircase,"

"Ah, God bless 'em. What did they think they were going to do? Use it on You-Know-Who? Or Snape himself?" Ted asked.

"Well, whatever they thought they were going to do with it doesn't matter now. Snape moved it to Gringotts," Dirk said.

The goblins laughed.

"What?" Ted asked.

"It's a fake," rasped Griphook, "The Sword of Gryffindor. It's an excellent copy, a magnificent one, in fact. The original one, however, was forged centuries ago by goblins and had certain properties only goblin-made armour possesses. Wherever the genuine sword of Gryffindor is, it is not in a vault at Gringotts Bank,"

"I see," said Ted, "And I take it that you didn't bother telling the Death Eaters this,"

"I saw no reason to trouble them with the information," Griphook said smugly to raucous laughter.

Inside the tent, Lydia's heart was pounding in her chest. She knew that there was a reason that Dumbledore had left her the sword. That must have been how Dumbledore had destroyed the ring...

"What happened to Ginny and the others?" Dean asked.

"Oh, they were punished, and cruelly," said Griphook.

"They're OK, though?" Ted asked.

"They suffered no serious injury, as far as I am aware," Griphook said.

"Lucky for them, with Snape's track record and all..." Ted said.

"You believe those Potters then, do you?" Dirk asked, "You believe that Snape killed Dumbledore? And that they're the Chosen Ones?"

"I know them," said Dean, "I reckon they're the real deal...you know, the Chosen Ones and all that,"

"Even the girl? Lydia?" Dirk asked, a hint of amusement in his voice, "I reckon there's something up with her, you know. All those stories about her being in Slytherin, and being able to speak Parseltongue and what she did to that Death Eater last summer..."

"My wife was in Slytherin," Ted said lightly.

"Yeah, but she can't speak to snakes can she? Her brother can't do that," Dirk said darkly, "And, he also doesn't kill Death Eaters by blowing them up ,"

"She thought she'd lost her dad again. What would you do?" Ted asked, "they've been through a lot, those kids,"

"I still think there's something off about her..." Dirk said.

"Nah, she's not like that," Dean said, "She's a bit harder to warm to than Harry, but she's not a Dark Witch if that's what you're implying,"

"It's hard to know what to believe these days, isn't it. If you go off what the Prophet is saying-"

"The Prophet?" Ted scoffed, "You deserve to be lied to if you're reading that. You want to try the Quibbler,"

"The Quibbler? Yeah, alright, Ted," Dirk said, laughing.

"Doesn't matter, anyway. We should be doing what we can to help those Potter kids,"

"Hard to help two kids who've vanished off the face of the earth, isn't it?" Dirk said, "Unless they've killed them, of course,"

"Ah...don't say that," Ted said, "Anyway, we should get going,"

Lydia yanked the Extendable Ear out of her ear and turned to Harry and Hermione, a grin spreading across her face despite everything. Hermione ran over to her bag and pulled something out of it. It took Lydia a few moments to realise that it was a portrait.

"I got this from Grimmauld Place," Hermione explained, "I thought it might come in handy at some point - it's Phineas Nigellus' portrait!" She cleared her throat, "Professor Black? Professor Black? Please could we speak to you?"

"'Please' always helps," came the cold, snide voice of Phineas Nigellus as he slid into his portrait, "Although-"

" _Obscuro_!" Hermione cried.

A thick black blindfold appeared over his eyes, causing him to bump against the frame and shriek with pain.

"Ouch!" He yelled, "How dare you! This is a great work of art! Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who we are," Harry said quickly, "We want to ask you some questions about the Sword of Gryffindor,"

"Is that the elusive Mr Potter?"

"Maybe," Harry said, and Lydia knew that this would keep him interested. "Where's the Sword?"

"Did he- um- did he take it out for cleaning?" Hermione asked.

Phineas Nigellus sniggered, " Cleaning? Obviously not, you simple girl. Goblin-made metal does not need cleaning. It repels everything but the things that make it stronger,"

Lydia's jaw dropped as she remembered a History of Magic lesson in their fourth year. She closed her eyes and she saw Professor Binns floating just above his armchair, droning on with himself as usual: "Goblin-armour only takes in that which makes it stronger. It can become practically indestructible,"

"Professor Black, when was the last time Dumbledore used the sword?" Lydia asked, beginning to realise something that had been so obvious all the time.

"I believe that the last time Professor Dumbledore removed the sword was to crack open a ring," Phineas Nigellus said, confirming everything that Lydia had been thinking.

"Did you tell Snape this?" Lydia asked.

" Professor Snape has more important things to worry about than the many eccentricities of Albus Dumbledore. Good day!" And he sidled back out of of his portrait. Hermione shoved the portrait back into her bag, laughing.

"The sword! It can destroy Horcruxes!" Lydia exclaimed, "Goblin metal is different to normal metal! It only takes in that which makes it stronger! Don't you remember what Professor Binns said?"

"Never," Harry said.

"I stabbed the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor! It's impregnated with the Basilisk venom which can destroy the Horcrux!" Lydia yelled, actually jumping up and down. She turned to Hermione, "I got that right, didn't I?"

"Yes!" Hermione said, "Oh, Lydia! This is amazing!"

"But where is it?" Harry asked, "If he moved it..."

"It could be anywhere!" Hermione said, "OK, OK..." She said, trying to calm them down, "Here's what we'll do. I'll go and get some food, and then tomorrow we start looking. There's no point in doing it yet, we're not thinking straight,"

That night, Lydia couldn't sleep. Her mind was working too fast for her to even consider sleep. She took over watch from Hermione and settled herself in the mouth of the tent, turning her wand over and over again in her hand. Horcruxes. Sword. George. Horcruxes. George. Sword. It was all that she could think about. Finding the sword meant that they could destroy the Horcruxes. And, if they found the Horcruxes, and managed to destroy them, then they would probably be able to find George. Providing he was still alive. No, she told herself firmly, he was alive. There was no way he wouldn't be alive. They wouldn't kill him. But they would probably torture him, a horrible voice said in the back of her mind, even if you find him, they could have tortured him to insanity. Remember Frank and Alice Longbottom? He might just be giving you sweet wrappers instead of a wedding ring.

"No, he won't," she said out loud, "that's not true,"

"Did you say something, Lydia?" Harry called from inside the tent.

"No," she said quickly, "no. You can go to sleep, if you want,"

Something that she felt was keeping her sane was the fact that there was still people out there fighting. Even the goblins seemed to be on their side, however grudgingly that the support might have been. Even though that Dirk didn't seem to be her biggest fan. " I reckon there's something up with her, you know. All those stories about her being in Slytherin, and being able to speak Parseltongue and what she did to that Death Eater last summer...". She frowned at the floor, wondering how many people believed that she was on the same level as Voldemort himself. Those kinds of rumours had followed her around Hogwarts since her first year. And, in second year, when everyone discovered that she could speak to snakes, those rumours only intensified.

And, as the Horcrux beat away next to her own heart, she thought about how it had never changed her. It had caused Ron to say the worst things possible, and things that he would never say otherwise. Possibly even things that he would never think. It caused Harry and Hermione to dissolve in the worst moods and be unable to cast the spells they would usually have no trouble casting under any other circumstance.

But it made no difference to her. Why? Was her soul really as dark as Voldemort's? The more she thought about it, the more sense it made to her. Maybe what people had said about her all along had been true. After years of trying to dispel the rumours, maybe she should just own it.

"No," she said, speaking out loud again, "it's just the Horcrux speaking,"

"Are you speaking to yourself?" Harry asked. He nudged her shoulder, "I'll take this watch. You're going mad,"

"Yeah, probably," she muttered.


	24. Godric's Hollow

_**"Home is where your story begins,"**_

 _ **\- Annie Danielson**_

Before they knew it, December was upon them. The weather got even harsher and Lydia had taken to wearing as many layers as she possibly could, which wasn't great mobility wise. Wrapped up in four different jumpers, three pairs of gloves and ever scarf that she had ever owned, she sat with her arms tightly folded in the mouth of the tent. Her breath rose in the air as she breathed and she was so cold, she was beginning to think that she probably wouldn't make it to the next day.

They still hadn't spoken about Ron. Not with Hermione, anyway, who seemed more than to happy to pretend that he never existed. Perhaps to compensate for the fact that his absence made the tent seem even bigger than it was, Hermione had taken to propping the portrait of Phineas Nigellus up in the chair that Ron would have occupied. They never found anything out of him, and he never found anything out of them. Occasionally, he would pop his head back into the portrait and the three of them would sit in a stubborn silence until he got bored and went back to his other portrait. Lydia had no doubt that he was probably doing this on Snape's orders, but they were still alive, so he couldn't have found out anything consequential.

"I've been thinking-"

"That's a first," Lydia said.

Harry ignored her.

"I think we should go to Godric's Hollow,"

Lydia looked up at him and frowned. They had already decided that they wouldn't be doing that. It was definitely too dangerous. She looked over at Hermione who, to Lydia's surprise, was nodding.

"Yes, I've been thinking the same thing," she said.

"Did you hear him right?" Lydia asked.

"Of course I heard him right," Hermione said lightly, "But, I've been thinking-"

"Not a first,"

"-and we're looking for the sword, right?"

Lydia and Harry both nodded.

"Well, what if Dumbledore left it there? It makes sense!"

"Um, does it?" Harry asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "Of course it makes sense! Godric Gryffindor was born there! Where else would Dumbledore leave the sword for us to find?"

"That's where he was born?" Harry asked, gobsmacked.

"Have you ever read A History of Magic?" Hermione asked.

"Yes! Well...just the once but...that's not the point!" He said.

"The point is is that Bathilda Bagshot still lives at Godric's Hollow and we know she was a friend of your parents from the letter your mum wrote, so what if Dumbledore gave her the sword? What if she has it?" She was speaking very fast and sounded much more like her old self again. Lydia was half expecting her to announce that she was going to the library.

"Well, are we going?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Not now!" Lydia exclaimed, "Merlin, Harry, we have to plan! I can guarantee something will go wrong whilst we're there,"

"Well," he said, "It will with that attitude,"

Lydia resisted the urge to punch him and instead vented her frustration by throwing a cushion at him. Hermione rolled her eyes at the two of them and pulled a book towards her, no doubt beginning a plan that would undoubtedly go wrong.

Within three days, they had a plan. It wasn't a very good plan, but it was a plan, and that was all that mattered. Hermione had ventured into a muggle village and stolen some hair from unsuspecting Muggles. They still had some Polyjuice Potion left from when they left the Dursleys a lifetime against o. Like when they had a Charms test, Hermione turned obsessive and kept on repeating the plan over and over again. Lydia wouldn't not have been surprised if she started speaking in her sleep.

"Ready?" Hermione asked in the evening, "We have everything, don't we?"

"Do you have your bag?" Lydia asked.

"Yes,"

"Then we have everything,"

"I still think we should go under the cloak," Hermione said, "If people recognise us-"

"We look like middle aged Muggles, Hermione, even You-Know-Who can't recognise us now," Harry said impatiently. He had the same look of feverish excitement in his eye that he did before a Quidditch game, "Let's go,"

They joined hands and Apparated to Godric's Hollow, arriving in the square. Lydia looked around as the snow fell heavy around them. It looked like the front of a Christmas card in the snow. Hermione tugged on her sleeve, pointing at something.

"Look," she whispered.

Lydia looked up and frowned, confused as to why Hermione was pointing at a war memorial. But then, Lydia moved closer and the breath caught in her throat; the memorial had been replaced with one from a different war. A war that not many people knew about. Lily and James Potter stood tall, smiling down at the two of them. In Lily's arms was a baby boy with a tuft of messy hair and no scar on his face. In James' was a baby girl, holding onto his fingers with no scar on her face. The Potters, as they were before the night of October 31st in 1981.

Tears sprung to Lydia's eyes and she looked away. This might have been how the rest of the Wizarding World remembered the Potters, but it was not how she did. The picture taken at Slughorn's Christmas Party the previous year sprung to mind. Instead of two babies and a mum and dad, there had been two sixteen year olds and just a dad. Lydia thought that she might have never been happier than in her dads company, knowing he was always there.

"We should go," Harry said, his voice shaking lightly, "We have things to do,"

"Yeah," Lydia muttered, "Come on,"

They walked on, and Lydia resisted the urge to turn back around and look at the family that she had always deserved. She wondered if James knew about the statue.

They passed a church from which Christmas carols could be heard. Lydia felt a pang as she thought back to Christmas at Hogwarts...Hagrid carrying the magnificent trees into the Great Hall, Peeves singing rude versions of the carols much to the dismay of Professor McGonagall, the mouth watering feast and George appearing at her shoulder with a branch of Mistletoe and refusing to go away until she kissed him...

"I think it's Christmas Eve," Hermione said in a small voice.

The doors of the Church opened and the congregation poured out, immediately turning to the pub. Some of the locals, so full of Christmas spirit, stopped and waved at them before going in. They turned their back on the pub and carried on walking. Lydia shoved her hands deep into her pocket and taking it all in. She could never imagine spending Christmas here. If Lily and James had never been killed, maybe they would have a joint Christmas with the Weasley's. They might have even invited Hermione's mum and dad. After all, Lily was Muggleborn and Mr Weasley loved Muggles. Remus and Sirius would be there, too, Lydia thought. Frank and Alice Longbottom might have come round the day before with Neville...

"Can we go in here?" Harry asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She turned and her eyes fell upon the cemetery where Lily was buried. Hermione bit her lip.

"I don't know, if someone sees us looking at their graves-"

"Please," Harry said, "I-I want to spend Christmas with...if we can't be with dad, I want to be with mum,"

"Of course," Hermione breathed, tears sparkling in her eyes, "Yes, let's go..."

Lydia lead the way through the gate, having no idea where Lily might have been buried. She wondered why they had never thought to go with James...

"Wait!" Harry said, making Lydia and Hermione jump, "Wait, look at this,"

Lydia doubled back and walked over to him. He was stood at a grave that wasn't their parents. For a moment, she couldn't understand what was wrong with him, but then she looked closer and saw the same symbol that had been hanging around Xenophilius Lovegood's neck, and the one that was scribbled on the title page of Hermione's copy of The Tale of Beedle the Bard.

"How strange," Hermione said, frowning, "I wonder why it's here. Whose grave is it?" she leant forward and brushed the snow off it. Beneath the ivy that was growing onto it and the fact that it was crumbling, Lydia could just about read the name, Peverell.

"Have you read that name anywhere before, Hermione?" Harry asked, a note of urgency in his voice.

She paused for a moment.

"No. I don't recognise it,"

"If she's not read it then it's not important," Lydia said quietly, "Come on," and they moved on. Lydia's heart was beating out of control.

"Here," Harry said. His voice sounded strange.

The grave was made of marble and shone brightly through the darkness. Lydia supposed that it must have been magically reinforced for no snow fell on it and despite its sixteen year age, it looked brand new, as though it had been put there just that morning. Feeling tears welling up inside her, Lydia reached out and grabbed Harry's hand. Hermione stood behind them slightly, as though understanding that this was something that was just between the two of them.

 ** _Lily Potter_**

 ** _January 30th 1960 - October 31st 1981_**

 ** _The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death._**

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," Lydia read aloud. She turned to Hermione, "Why is that there? Why've they written that on it? Isn't that a Death Eater idea?

"No," she said gently, "It means...it means that death can't separate us. Not really, anyway. She's still here with you,"

"She deserved better..." Lydia whispered.

"I know. But we'll make sure that they didn't die for nothing. We'll survive because that's what they wanted us to do," Harry said.

James' voice echoed through her head, " _Lydia, you and Harry living one more week would have been enough for your mother,_ " and she wiped tears from her eyes again. Suddenly terrified that they weren't doing enough for them, for anyone. She looked down at the ground. Lily Potter had no idea that her two children were stood above them now, embarking on a journey that they might not come back from. Lydia wondered what she would say to them. Would she encourage them to go on and do it? Or would she tell them no. That this wasn't their war to fight.

"We should have brought flowers. I didn't think." Harry said.

"I've got it," Hermione said, stepping forward and moving her wand in a circle. A wreath of roses appeared, turning in midair. Harry reached out and grabbed it, carefully laying it on the grave.

He straightened up again and wiped his eyes.

"Merry Christmas," he whispered.

Lydia knew that he wasn't speaking to her.

"We should go," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Lydia said, clearing her throat, "No, you're right. There's no point in dwelling on something we can't ch-"

"No," Hermione said, "it's because someone's staring at us,"

"We don't look like ourselves," Harry pointed out, "We look like Muggles,"

"Muggles who are looking at your mother's grave, Harry,"

Lydia looked up and followed Hermione's gaze. There was indeed a shadowy figure stood in the trees. She tried to convince herself that they were a homeless person but followed Hermione anyway, trying to look as natural as possible whilst walking as quickly as possible.

They took a right turn at random and happened upon a cul-de-sac full of thatched roofed cottage. Lydia looked around, thinking that this was the sort of place she might like to own one day. They wandered down the pavement and as they went, Lydia imagined her and George sat in their own living room, and Harry, Ron and Hermione coming to visit at the weekend when they had time and-

"Oh, Merlin..." she whispered, coming to a halt at the bottom of the cul-de-sac.

"What? Oh, no-" Harry said.

Hermione gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth, perhaps to stop herself from screaming because that's what Lydia felt like doing. A cottage stood before them in ruins. The top of the house had been completely demolished and Lydia watched open mouthed as a wooden beam swayed in the wind, still hanging on by just a splinter.

It was here. It was here that Lord Voldemort had come to kill the Potter family, and it was here that Lily Potter had stood in front of the cot that held her children in the hopes that they might just survive. As though she was back in third year, Lily Potter's dying words echoed through her mind.

"Not Harry and Lydia! Please...have mercy...have mercy! Not Harry and Lydia! Please - I'll do anything!"

Harry moved forward and put his hand on the gate. Lydia lurched forward and grabbed his hand, pulling him back.

"You can't go in there! It's been destroyed- oh, Harry, look!"

Harry touching the gate seemed to have done something. Out of the ground, a sign rose up. The three of them bent forward and read what was written on it:

 _On this spot, on the night of 31st October 1981,_

 _Lily and James Potter lost their lives,_

 _Their children, Harry and Lydia, remain the only wizards to have ever to have survived the Killing Curse._

 _This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore their family apart._

All around this, other witches and wizards had scribbled messages to the Children Who Lived. The most recent shining brightly over the rest. " _Good luck, Harry and Lydia, wherever you are!_ " " _If you ever read this, Harry and Lydia, we're all behind you!" "Long live Harry and Lydia Potter_!"

"They shouldn't have written on the sign!" Hermione said indignantly.

"I think it's brilliant!" Harry said beaming.

Lydia nodded. "Yeah, I mean, it's like an act of rebellion, isn't it? Coming to the place where he started all this and writing messages like, "I stand with the Potters,". That isn't exactly a popular sentiment right now, is it?"

At last, Hermione smiled and nodded. "You're right," she looked back up at the house, "I can't believe it, though...this is where it all happened...where you made history,"

"Nah," Lydia said, "We didn't make history. Mum did. She's the one who jumped in front of our cot..."

Once again, Lily Potter's voice reverberated around her mind. " _Please! Please! Have mercy! Have mercy! Take me instead! Don't hurt them! Take me!"_

"There's someone here," Harry whispered, "Turn around,"

Lydia and Hermione slowly turned around. A short woman stood just metres around them. At once, she knew that this woman was not a Muggle for she was staring quite obviously at the Potter house. Hermione was breathing heavily next to her and Lydia knew all she wanted to was Apparate as far away from this woman as possible, and Lydia herself was more than happy to do that.

"Bathilda? Bathilda Bagshot?" Harry asked tentatively.

She nodded once and then gestured for them to follow. Harry glanced behind him at Lydia and Hermione and shrugged and then followed them. Hermione sighed and pulled Lydia along with her. Lydia could not think of a worse thing to do. They didn't even know if this woman was Bathilda Bagshot! She was quite sure that none of them had ever seen a picture of her. Lydia kept her hand in her pocket, holding her wand tightly and preparing to cast any spell at a moments notice.

She lead them to a tiny derelict house. Inside was as depressing as the outside. Grime covered the walls and windows and, as they walked around, small puffs of dusts rose from the carpet. There was no light and it smelled horrible. Hermione choked slightly and covered her nose with her coat sleeve. This wasn't the kind of house that Lydia imagined a celebrated magical historian to live in. If anything, it was the kind of house that Lydia imagined Professor Binns to live in, and he was the opposite of a celebrated magical historian.

Bathilda turned around and made direct eye contact with Lydia, who took a step backwards.

"Upstairs," Bathilda rasped, pointing upstairs.

"Oh...OK..." Lydia said, turning to the stairs.

Harry and Hermione went to follow her, but Bathilda stopped them, shaking her head. She pointed at Lydia, then to herself and then upstairs.

"Just me on my own?" Lydia asked.

Bathilda nodded.

"Lydia, you were just-" Harry began.

"I'll be fine," Lydia said. "Fine," she added to Hermione who looked terrified.

Suddenly walking quite quickly, Bathilda Bagshot hurried past Lydia and upstairs. Lydia waved at Harry and Hermione and followed her. The stairs were very narrow and very steep, and Lydia had visions of Bathilda tumbling down them, but she didn't let that stop her. Her heart was beating out of control and all she could think about was the Sword. Surely that was why Bathilda was showing her upstairs and Dumbledore had probably left her strict instructions to give it to Lydia and Lydia only, that's why she was so intent on only having Lydia follow her upstairs.

She was lead into dark master bedroom and she scanned every corner of it, looking out for that ruby encrusted hilt. Bathilda touched her arm and pointed into the corner of the room where there was a dark bundle. Lydia's heart did a somersault in her chest and she dived over the bed towards it. Hands shaking, she yanked the pair of old robes away and looked down eagerly, expecting to see the sword but it was just an old broomstick.

"This is-"

A loud hissing noise cut her off. Confused, she spun around and screamed. Bathilda Bagshot had gone limp and was slumped against the wall. For a moment, Lydia thought that she was dead but something strange and horrible was happening; her head snapped to the side and her neck opened up. Lydia moved closer, trying to see what was happening, and then a snake lunged at her.

Lydia screamed again and fell backwards onto the bed. She scrambled up, her wand pointed at the snake as it reared its head, ready to pounce again. And then she realised that this wasn't any old snake, but Voldemort's snake.

" _CONFRINGO_!" She screamed, "HARRY! HARRY! HERMIONE! HELP! THERE'S A SNAKE! HARRY!"

The snake pounced at her again and she only just managed to move out of the way. Grabbing an old chair from the writing desk near the door, Lydia jumped over Nagini's tale and smashed the chair over her head. She hissed and flailed wildly just as the door banged open and Harry and Hermione burst in.

"Fuck off!" Harry yelled as the snake made towards him, " _STUPEFY_!" but every spell they cast seemed to bounce right off of her.

"HERE!" Hermione yelled, launching herself over the bed towards Lydia and yanking her towards her, "Harry! Grab Lydia's hand!"

Harry dived towards them and Nagini missed him by inches. Suddenly, Lydia's scar began to burn and she collapsed sideways into Hermione, clutching at her head.

"'Mione!" she gasped, "he's coming! We need to go! He's coming!"

" _Bombarda Maxima_!" Hermione yelled, pointing her wand at Nagini's. The floor beneath her disappeared and she fell through to the bottom floor.

Everything became very confused very quickly. Lydia's scar burned even hotter and just as Hermione's hand closed around her own, she looked straight into a pair of red eyes and then the house around them disappeared, and they were back surrounded by trees.

"I hate snakes," Lydia muttered, falling to the ground.

"What?" Harry asked, as Hermione ran around them putting the protective enchantments up.

"Snakes," she repeated, "I hate them. They're terrifying,"

Even Hermione stopped what she was doing to stare at her, "You're scared of snakes?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed, "they're horrible!"

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and then began to laugh, taking Lydia by surprise.

"Is there a joke I'm missing out on or something?"

"I'm sorry," Harry said, helping her up, "I really am, it's just-" he burst into laughter again, "You're in Slytherin and you can speak to snakes but your scared of them!"

"It's like you want me to curse you," she snapped.

He snorted and his hand went to his jeans pocket, but he frowned and then started turning around on the spot, looking for something. For one awful moment, Lydia though that he had lost the Horcrux but then she saw the chain around his neck and felt herself calm down.

"You OK?"

"I've lost my wand," he said, "I can't believe it!"

"No, no, I have it," Hermione said, though she was speaking in a very strange voice, "but, oh, Harry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I was trying to get us away from Nagini and I didn't cast straight!"

"What've you done?"

Hermione hung her head and held something up. Lydia gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth for Hermione was holding Harry's hand, though it was split in two, barely hanging on.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated.

"No, no," Harry said, "No it's fine. I'll just have to use yours and Lydia's for now,"

"Yeah, of course," Lydia said quickly, "We can just do it in shifts if we have to,"

"Right," he said, "I'm going to bed,"

Hermione looked at Lydia, tears in her eyes.

"It's fine," Lydia said, "We'll find him a wand. We'll figure something out,"

Lydia wondered how many times they would say they would figure something out until they actually did.


	25. The Silver Doe

_**"Mistakes are always forgivable,**_

 _ **if one has the courage to admit them,"**_

 _ **\- Bruce Lee.**_

On Christmas Day, Hermione took over watch at midnight. Lydia gratefully crawled into bed, sinking into her pillows. Her dreams were confusing. Nagini weaved in and out of them with Ron stood over George's dead body, screaming at her about how this was all her fault. Lee Jordan stood behind them, commenting on everything as though he was commentating during a Quidditch match. She turned her back on Ron, trying to get away from it all, only to look into a mirror where her eyes glowed red like Voldemort's.

Harry shook her awake and passed her wand back to her. Since Hermione had accidentally broken his, he had started using hers. Hermione had reasoned that because they were twins, it would be more effective then if he used hers. He hadn't snapped at Hermione for anything, but Lydia could tell that he was holding back from getting really angry at her.

"Is there no way you can fix it?" He asked over breakfast that day.

Hermione tugged at the Horcrux around her neck and, quite patiently said, "No, Harry, you know I can't. I've already told you. When a wand is damaged that much, there's nothing you can do about it. Do you not remember Ron's wand in second year?"

With Harry being in this much of a bad mood, Lydia felt as though Hermione was being very courageous in bringing Ron up. He clenched his jaw and looked away for a moment before looking back up, and Lydia could tell that the smile on his face was forced.

"I know. I'll get a proper one,"

They moved again that day. Hermione had become quite paranoid and was convinced that she could hear someone moving around near them and talking loudly. Lydia thought that she might have gone mad, but knew better than to get on the wrong side of Hermione when she was like this. They packed everything up and moved to yet another forest. Lydia thought she might die if she ever had to walk into a forest again after this.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"Forest of Dean," Hermione explained, "I came camping here once with mum and dad,"

Lydia looked around, "All forests look the same and I hate them all,"

"You're a little ball of sunshine, aren't you?" Harry said brightly.

"That's all I'm here for," she beamed.

She offered to take first watch. Harry pretended to kick up a fuss about it, but Lydia knew that he didn't really care. Although she would never say it to him, Lydia felt as though she wouldn't have slept well knowing that Harry would be looking out for them using a wand that he couldn't cast even the most simple of spells with. Hermione made her promise to wake her up at midnight and then bid her goodnight, disappearing into the tent and holding The Tales of Beedle the Bard close to her chest.

"Night," Harry said.

Lydia pulled an armchair into the mouth of the tent and, wrapping herself up in five jumpers and covering herself in all the blankets that she kept on her bed, she curled up in the chair and tightly gripped her wand. The snow that was falling thick and fast was actually quite unnerving. She kept on thinking that she could see a figure moving in the trees and, twice, she thought she heard someone call her name.

"You're just hearing things," she told herself firmly, "there's no one around. It's just us,"

Her mind wandered back to Godric's Hollow, and back to the statue of Lydia, Harry and their parents. She wondered if James had known of its existence. Had he gone back to Godric's Hollow? He must have done...how else would he have come back to life? He must have woken up again in the place that he had thought home. Lydia frowned and picked at the thread on her jumper. Why had she never asked him that? She couldn't understand how, between her and Harry, they had never asked what had actually happened when he had come back to life. Had he woke up below ground or above? How did he get back to Hogwarts? Had he been buried with his wand? If he was, he could have easily Apparated away...but, no, because Lydia struggled to do the most simple spells when she was tired in the morning, how on earth would James have managed to Apparate after fourteen years of being dead?

There was so much she should have asked him when he was around. She should have asked more about Lily. They had only ever spoke about her in passing apart from once in the Christmas of Lydia's fifth year. "I see a lot of your mother in you," he had told her. Lydia snorted to herself. She felt like the direct antithesis of Lily Potter. Lily Potter, who was in Gryffindor and never accused of being a Dark Witch. Lily Potter who Hagrid had once told her was one of the most powerful witches that he knew, but only ever used the power she had for good.

Lily Potter would never have killed a Death Eater. It was strange, really, because the Death Eaters probably didn't think about the people they killed once it was done, but Lydia couldn't stop thinking about what she had done. She had felt that the Killing Curse was beneath her and so had compensated by killing that man in the most violent way possible. Did that really make her any different from the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange? It was the sort of thing that Bellatrix would have done and that didn't fill Lydia with much joy. Not much did. She thought about the look on George's face after she had killed the Death Eater and it made her feel even worse. It was the first time she had ever known him to not immediately smile when he saw her.

Harry wouldn't have done that. If Harry had been in her shoes, he would probably have just disarmed the Death Eater and moved on. Lydia often thought that things would be ten times better if she was more like Harry. He always seemed to be able to do the right thing and he was hated by people on the other side, not by people who were supposedly their allies. She wondered how many people counted themselves as allies of just the Boy who Lived, and not his possibly evil sister.

That had essentially been what Rita Skeeter had written in their fourth year: " _Whilst Harry Potter might be your stereotypical handsome hero, the Girl who Lived might be anything but your stereotypical righteous heroine. With a Slytherin tie hanging around her neck and a glare that could cut someone in half, I wonder how she could have ever possibly vanquished the Dark Lord once and for all. If anything, she herself looks like she's halfway to become the next You-Know-Who!_ " Lydia snorted as she remembered that particular article. Fred and George reacted to it in the only way Fred and George could. Whenever they passed her in the corridor they would loudly say, "The Dark Lady is coming through! She's late for Transfiguration and will kill you if you don't move out the way!"

It was hard to believe that back in fourth year, Lydia's biggest worries were what Rita Skeeter would next write about her and what she was going to do with her hair at the Yule Ball. If she could go back and find her fourteen year old self, she'd probably tell her to actually enjoy herself because soon, everything would go to shit. Complete and utter shit.

A bright light distracted her from her thoughts. Frowning, Lydia looked up. At first, she thought that it was a massive group of people with torches, but she quickly recognised it as the silvery glow of a Patronus Charm. They weren't the only Wizards in the forest. Lydia glanced behind her at the tent and almost went to shout for Harry and Hermione, but something told her that this was something just for her.

Gripping her wand tightly in her hand, Lydia slowly rose from the chair and walked towards the light. The closer she got, the more she could see that it had a shape. Heart beating with a mixture of fear and excitement, Lydia peered closer to it and she was sure that her heart stopped beating for a second.

It was a Doe.

Her immediate thought was that she had accidentally cast a Patronus without realising, but that was practically impossible. It was a tricky piece of magic that even the most experienced wizards couldn't cast. Then, her mind went straight to her mother. It couldn't be Lily. She was dead. Lydia had seen her grave but, then again, they had thought that James had been dead all that time and yet he came back. Could this Doe be about to lead her to Lily Potter back from the dead?

The Doe turned around and began to walk through the trees. A sense of calm overtook Lydia and she knew that as long as she was with this Doe, nothing could hurt her and so she hastened to follow her. The Doe, not being a physical being, walked gracefully over the overgrown roots of the trees, whereas Lydia kept on tripping over and there was a few times where she definitely nearly broke her ankle, but she didn't care. She needed to know what the Doe was about to show her.

They emerged from the trees to a clearing. Lydia whirled around, looking for her mother but she was not there. Disheartened, Lydia turned to look at the Doe. She bowed her head and then disappeared, bathing the clearing in darkness.

"No!" She exclaimed, suddenly realising how ridiculously stupid she had been to come away from the protection of the tent alone. Anyone could be around. She was half-expecting to see a flash of green light heading straight towards her. God, she thought, that would be an embarrassing way to die.

" _Lumos_ ," she whispered, still glancing around.

Something red caught her eye and she hurried towards a pond that had frozen over. There was something beneath the ice but she couldn't quite see what it was. If this was Voldemort's plan to lure her away from Harry and Hermione, it was working. She knew that she should probably go and get them both, but there was something keeping her in this clearing and she wouldn't leave until she figured out what it was.

" _Lumos Maxima_ ,"

The light on the tip of her wand grew brighter and she moved it closer to the pond and, in her excitement, slipped on the ice and fell to her knees for the Sword of Gryffindor was just below the ice. Lydia spun around again, facing the trees, trying to see if the caster of the Patronus had hung around.

"Mum?" She called, "Pr-Professor Dumbledore?" She knew that both of these people were a long shot, but a girl could hope. "Anyone?" There was no answer and she quickly shut up, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. If some Muggles found her, she couldn't think of many good excuses as to why there was a sword in the pond other than she was doing some sort of scavenger hunt.

Lydia straightened up again and looked down at it. The water was probably below freezing, but she couldn't really wait for the weather to warm up to get it. She glanced around. If this was the real sword, and she hoped to Merlin that it was, then she couldn't walk away from it. The Horcrux hung heavier than it ever had done around her neck. They had to get rid of it. They had to destroy it so that they could destroy him once and for all.

What was it that Dumbledore had said to her in second year? "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that sword out of the hat,". On reflection, Lydia felt that there was a difference between pulling a sword out of a hat than out of icy water but, then again, at least there was no Basilisk this time. Moreover, Lydia didn't feel like a true Gryffindor. She didn't even feel like a true Slytherin. She wasn't quite sure what it meant to be true to either house.

"Alright, Dumbledore," she muttered, "time to find out how Gryffindor I actually am," she pointed her wand at the ice, " _Diffindo_ ," the ice cracked she stepped on it slightly with her foot. It gave way and sank to the bottom of the pond. Lydia bent down slightly and put the tip of her finger into the water, pulling it out straight away as the cold washed over her.

What was it that the Sorting Hat had said about Gryffindor? " _Their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart,_ ". Lydia bit down on her lip, she wasn't feeling very daring and she certainly didn't have have the nerve to jump into some freezing water. Surely there was a better way for her to get the sword, after all Slytherin's would do anything to achieve what they wanted, including jumping into water.

"Oh, fuck it, I'll be dead soon anyway," she said to no one in particular, carefully placing her wand on the floor so that it shone on the Sword. She put a Weightlessness Charm on her clothes, in the hope that keeping them on would somehow keep her warm. Terrified of losing the Horcrux when they were the closest to destroying it than they had been in a while, she kept in around her neck. "OK, Potter, let's get this over and done with. You've swam in the Black Lake, you'll be fine,"

Taking a deep breath and sending a quick prayer to a God that she didn't quite believe in, Lydia jumped in. The icy coldness washed over immediately and the breath rushed from her body. She forced her eyes open and saw the Sword at the bottom. As she dived own, the Horcrux seemed to come to life. It shot upwards and began to wrap itself tightly around her neck, pulling her to the ground. Lydia tried to scream, but she just took in a mouthful of water. She thrashed around in the water, her hands snatching at the Horcrux, trying to get it off her, but it was as though it was attached to her skin.

Any energy that she did have seemed to drain away from her and she began to sink that bottom of the pond, her eyes slowly shutting. Arms, presumably deaths, wrapped around her middle and she felt herself calm down again. It was over. She had done what she could, but it had not been enough.

Her head broke the surface of the water and the breath rushed back into her body. Someone pushed her back onto dry land and she stayed there, coughing and spluttering, her glasses askew. She was quite confused as to whether she was dead or alive. She felt like she was alive, but she had never been dead, so she could draw no reasonable comparison.

"You idiot," someone said, pulling her up. They sounded familiar, "Why didn't you take that thing off before you dived?"

Lydia grabbed her glasses off the floor and shoved them back onto her face. The blurry figure in front of her came into focus. It was Ron. He was drenched, his sopping hair plastered to his face. In one hand, he held the Sword and in the other, the Horcrux. They stood apart from each other. There was a part of her that wanted to curse him into next year, but the better part of her won. Completely disregarding all the horrible things that he had said to her, Lydia launched herself at him, throwing his arms around his neck. He yelped slightly but hugged her back.

"I thought you were going to curse me," he muttered, though he sounded relieved.

"I'd never c-curse you," she said, her teeth chattering from the cold, "A-apart from a-all those times I've cursed y-you," she looked over his shoulder, "s-so it was you?"

"Yeah," he said, sounding confused.

"Y-you cast the Doe?"

"No!" he said, "my Patronus is a Jack Russell...I thought it was you,"

Lydia shook her head, "N-no. It came to me,"

"Oh," he said frowning, "I thought I saw someone over there but then I saw you jump in the pool and I didn't want to wait around in case you didn't come back out,"

"Why are you here?" Lydia asked, "After everything-"

"Well, I, you know, I came back. If, um, if you still want me..." He cleared his throat, looking awkward.

"Ron," she said, "obviously we still want you. You're my best friend. You just saved my life,"

"Yeah, well, I thought...I thought..." Ron stammered, "Whatever. I got the Sword," he held it up, "Do you think that it's the real one?"

"Only one way to find out," Lydia said, "It can destroy Horcruxes," she explained, "if it's the real one, it'll be impregnated with Basilisk venom. It should destroy it,"

She took the Horcrux off him and placed it on a bolder, staring at it in apprehension. Lydia knew that if they managed to destroy that here, they would be one step closer to destroying him. They were one step closer to all of this ending. Ron offered Lydia the Sword but she shook her head.

"No," Lydia said, "It should be you,"

"Me?" Ron asked, looking shock, "why?"

"Because you pulled the Sword out of the pool," Lydia said, "It has to be you. The Locket affected you more than it did me, Harry or Hermione. You have to do it. Please, Ron, we need to destroy it now."

He didn't say anything.

"I'm going to ask it to open," she said, her voice surprisingly calm, "and then stab it. Ready?"

He swallowed and then nodded, moving closer to the locket. Lydia turned away from Ron and looked at the Locket. It was easy to imagine that the green serpentine 'S' as a real slithering snake. She could hear Ron breathing heavily behind her and began to worry that he might start having a panic attack, which was the last thing any of them needed.

"One...two...three...open," the last word came out as a hiss. The golden doors of the locket swung open, revealing a blinking living eye. It was not the scarlet, slitted eye of Lord Voldemort, but the dark eye of Tom Riddle.

"Stab," said Lydia.

Ron raised the sword and Lydia held her breath, waiting for it to all be over. But then, a voice hissed from out of the Horcrux, taking them both by surprise.

"I have seen your heart, and it is mine," it hissed, "I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All your desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible..."

"Don't listen to it, Ron!" Lydia shouted, "just stab it! Stab it!"

But he had frozen, the sword held above his head.

"Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter...least loved, now, by he girl who prefers your friend...second best, always, eternally overshadowed..."

"STAB IT!" Lydia bellowed.

Riddles eye suddenly gleamed scarlet and something rose out of the locket. It was Harry and Hermione, but they didn't look like themselves at all. Lydia actually took a step back from the locket.

Riddle-Harry laughed, "Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence...we laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption-"

"S-stab it!" Lydia said weakly.

"Presumption!" Riddle-Hermione echoed. Ron stared at her, horrified yet transfixed. His arm hung limply at his sword, the sword almost falling out of his hand, "who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you compared with the Boy Who Lived?"

"Stab it, Ron!" Lydia yelled, "COME ON!"

"You're mother confessed," Riddle-Harry sneered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange..."

"Who wouldn't prefer, what woman would take you? You are nothing, nothing, nothing to him," crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she wrapped him in an embrace and their lips met.

"RON! GET ON WITH IT!" Lydia screamed, "COME ON!"

Finally, Ron raised his arms above his head and moved forward to the locket. He glanced back at Lydia, and, for a moment, she thought that she saw a trace of red in his eyes. The sword flashed and he thrust the sword into the locket. There was a long, drawn-out scream and the clang of metal on metal.

Slowly, Lydia walked towards Ron. His eyes were back to their usual blue, though they were bloodshot. She turned to look at the locket, it was completely mangled and smoke rose from it, curling in the air.

"R-Ron," Lydia said, rushing towards him as he fell to his knees, "It's-it's alright..." She dropped next to him and hugged him. The fact that he didn't shove her away from him was a good sign. "It's not like that. Harry and Hermione, I mean. She cried for weeks she did, when you left. Barely looked at Harry. She's never looked at Harry, not when you're there anyway," He still didn't say anything and she carried on, "Harry loves Hermione like a sister in the same way I love you like a brother,"

It took him awhile but he finally pulled away, looking at her with tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice thick with tears, "I'm sorry that I was a prat and left. And I'm sorry...I'm sorry about what I said about George. I know it wasn't your fault and-" he glanced at her ring, "-and I know that you care about him, a lot. And, I know we're technically not supposed to talk about your wedding, but I can't wait until you're officially a Weasley," he grinned at her, "Lydia Weasley has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

"Who said you're invited, dickhead?"

"Oh," Ron said, the grin melting off his face, "I just...you know...but...obviously...your wedding...and I supposed George would invite me but-p

"Ron," Lydia said, "It was a joke. Obviously you're coming,"

"Yeah, obviously,"

Lydia grinned at him and picked his bag off the ground, "Come on, let's go and find the tent,"

It didn't take them long to find it. Not because it was easy to find, but because Harry and Hermione seemed to be running around, shouting her name. Lydia hadn't even thought about the fact that they might have woken up and found her to be missing.

"Lydia?" Harry was shouting, "Lydia? Lyds? Where are you? Lyds!"

"I'm here!" Lydia shouted, "Harry!"

"You absolute twat! You're genuinely the stupidest person I know!" He yelled, "Hermione! She's here! You can't just walk away from us like that! I thought you were dead! I was terrified, I was..." he trailed off as his eyes fell on Ron, "What are you doing here?"

Lydia interjected before Ron could answer.

"He destroyed the Horcrux," she said quickly, grabbing Ron's arm and pulling it up so that Harry could see the the mangled locked, "I found the Sword and he pulled it out and destroyed it. He saved my life, Harry,"

The last sentence seemed to stir something in him.

"He saved your life?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yeah," Lydia said, "It was in a pool and I jumped in to get it and I was still wearing the Horcrux. It tried to strangle me and I nearly drowned until he pulled me out. If he hadn't have found me, I would have died,"

Ron cleared his throat, "I wish I didn't leave. The moment I went, I wanted to come back but I couldn't find you. Your enchantments work. I couldn't see a thing,"

Harry and Ron looked at each other for a moment and then, at the exact same time, they walked forward and hugged. Lydia felt herself calm down. She had been terrified that Harry would try to attack Ron again.

"Lydia? Harry?"

Hermione ran over to them. Her face flushed. She looked at Lydia, shaking her head. "You c-can't, you can't do that! I thought- RON?" She screamed the last word so loudly that Lydia yelped slightly.

"Hey," he said, smiling slightly and holding his arms up.

Hermione rushed towards him, and Lydia thought that she might hug him, but then she started punching every inch of his body that she could reach, "You complete arse Ronald Weasley!" She shouted, "You crawl back here after weeks and all you say is 'hey'?"

She turned back round to Harry who jumped backwards from her.

"Where's my wand, Harry?" She asked.

"I don't know!" Harry said, walking away from her, "I don't have it!"

"Why would he have your wand?" Ron asked.

Hermione ignored him and turned to Lydia, holding out her hand. Lydia shook her head, hiding her wand behind her back.

"Give me your wand!" Hermione said.

"No!" Lydia said.

"Lydia Lily Potter, you give me your wand right now!"

There was nothing scarier than Hermione using her full name, but she refused to back down, "No, I'm not giving you my wand!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Ron said, saving Lydia from the wrath of Hermione, "I wanted to come back as soon as I left! I did! I've had a right hard time, I have! When I Disapparated away, I Apparated straight into a group of Snatchers-"

"Snatchers?" Lydia asked.

"They're a group of people who round up all the Muggle-borns. When I ran into them, they thought I might look like school-age and thought I was a Muggle-born in hiding. I told them I was Stan Shunpike, he was the first person I thought of, anyway, whilst they were arguing I stunned one of them and got their wand. They weren't very smart though. One of them was definitely part troll," he glanced at Hermione, as if hoping she would laugh, but she was still glaring at him, and so he carried on, "I Apparated away and then splinched myself again," and he held his hand up, showing missing fingernails.

"Oh, you lost some fingernails?" Hermione asked in a mock sympathetic voice, "How hard must that have been for you, Ronald? It really does put our struggles into perspective doesn't it, Harry, Lydia? Why, all we've had to deal with it You-Know-Who's snake trying to kill us and then the man himself turning up and missing us by minutes! But, no! Let's all worry about Ron Weasley and his fucking fingernails! What a hard time you've had Ron!"

Lydia winced. She had known Hermione long enough to know that things were starting to get dangerous when Hermione started swearing. It almost made Lydia miss Nagini.

"You-Know-Who's snake?" Ron asked, his mouth hanging open, but then his voice changed. "I've just destroyed a bloody Horcrux, you know!"

"How do you have the Sword of Gryffindor?" Hermione asked, turning on Lydia.

"It was in a pool," Lydia said and she quickly explained what had happened.

"How did you find us?" Hermione asked.

"I've been staying in little pubs around the country, trying to shake people off my tail. Anyway, there was this one night when I was messing about with the Deluminator and then I heard Hermione," He said, "She said- she said my name. And then this ball of light appeared, and it flew into my chest, right about here," he pointed at his heart, "and then I knew where to go to find you. It took me ages though. I only found you because I saw Lydia,"

"W-well, you're here now," Harry said, "and that's all that matters,"

Harry looked at Lydia and jerked his head at Hermione. Putting her wand in her bun, she walked over to Hermione and put her arms around her shoulders.

"Come on, 'Mione," she said, "let's go and complain about the love of your life,"

"He's not the love of my life," Hermione muttered.

"That's what you think," Lydia said knowingly, "I'm really good at Divination, remember?"

Hermione laughed, "Yeah, and you're also really good at potions,"

"I don't like how sarcastic you've suddenly got," Lydia said, "And it's really important to me that you know that,"


	26. The Rook

**_"Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky."_**

 ** _-Sonia Gandhi_**

Lydia and Harry were more than happy to see Ron back with them. Hermione, on the other hand, still had not warmed back up to him. She often made a point of rolling her eyes whenever he spoke and only ever glared at him. Lydia had spent too much time with the both of them to know that this wouldn't last long. If they could get over the Crookshanks-Scabbers argument in third year, they could get through anything.

Harry was particularly happy about the fact that he finally had a wand of his own, however much he hated it. It was a wand made of blackthorn that Ron had stolen from one of the Snatchers. He still couldn't produce very powerful pelts, but it was better than them having to share wands.

Ron, who was still feeling guilty about leaving them, was going over everywhere the other Horcruxes were, as though to make up for everything that he had said. Lydia didn't mind though, she had soon forgotten everything that he had said and was just glad he was on their side again.

"Let's go over everything again...Albania, Hogwarts, Hogsmeade...," Ron repeated, "So, we got the locket and the diary and Dumbledore destroyed the ring..so what's left?"

"The Hufflepuff cup, something of Ravenclaws and something of Gryffindors. I think he wanted something off each founder," Harry said, "But I don't know what,"

Lydia frowned, "That's only six...so there's still another one?" She paused for a moment,"Hey, you don't think that the Sorting Hat is a Horcrux do you? It did belong to Godric Gryffindor,"

"Don't be ridiculous, Lydia," Hermione sighed, "He can't make the sorting hat a Horcrux,"

"I feel like he can probably do what he wants," Harry said. He glanced at Lydia, "That is a stupid idea though. We probably would have noticed if the Sorting Hat was a Horcrux,"

"Just trying to be helpful..." She muttered, "What about the Sword?"

"Can a Horcrux destroy a Horcrux?" Ron asked, looking over at Hermione.

She took a few moments to glare at him before she shrugged, "I don't know. If it is a Horcrux, I truly do not know how we'll destroy it,"

"What about the Killing Curse?" Lydia asked, "you can't survive that,"

"You did," Ron pointed out.

"You know what I mean..."

They seemed to have been having variations of this conversation for days. Lydia was starting to get slightly bored of it, but she forced herself to be included in it. She had never quite appreciated how big the world actually was until they stared hunting for Horcruxes. They had exhausted most sensible places to go and look for Horcruxes and were now being faced with the terrifying prospect of possibly having to return to Hogwarts. To Lydia, it made sense that Voldemort would have left a Horcrux there. He viewed Hogwarts in the same way that Lydia and Harry did: home.

"It's just too dangerous," Hermione said, "Snape is Headmaster now and I can't even begin to imagine how many Death Eaters are there now. If by some miracle we get in, I can guarantee that there is no way we could ever get out,"

"Then we get help from the inside!" Harry said eagerly, "You can't say that McGonagall or Flitwick wouldn't help us! You can do those Patronus messages, can't you?"

"I practiced before we left but that's not the point," Hermione said, "it would probably get intercepted and then put everyone in danger!"

Lydia sighed. She hated how right Hermione was all the time.

"She has a point, Harry," Lydia said, "Anyway, if there was a Horcrux at Hogwarts, Dumbledore would have found it,"

"Not necessarily," Harry said, "He even admitted himself that he would never dream of knowing all of Hogwarts secrets,"

"That might be true, but he knew Hogwarts better than anyone. If one was there, he would have found it - don't look at me like that, you know it's true,"

They moved again that day to outskirts of a farm that Lydia snuck into to get some eggs. She felt slightly guilty about stealing, but compensated by leaving some money. Harry told her to get over herself and was kind enough to remind her that she had done much worse than steal some eggs.

"You left money, stop worrying about it," Ron said, happily scooping scrambled egg onto her plate, "It's either eat these great eggs or starve. What would you rather do?"

Hermione had been uncharacteristically quiet all day. Lydia was worried that she was either going to have some sort of breakdown or do that thing where she started to talk non-stop for the few days. She was sat in one of the armchairs, flicking through The Tales of Beedle the Bard, though Lydia was quite sure that she wasn't reading it at all.

"I think we should go and speak to Xenophilius Lovegood," Hermione said loudly.

"Why?" Harry asked, "What's he got to to do with anything?"

"Don't you think it's odd how this symbol has been popping up everywhere?" Hermione asked, shoving the book into Harry's face, "Mr Lovegood wore it around his neck at the wedding, Viktor seemed to get really offended by it, it's in this book, we saw it in Godric's Hollow and Dumbledore knew about it!"

"How do you know Dumbledore-"

Hermione grabbed another book off the floor and showed it him. It was a copy of, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. Harry made a face at it but Hermione ploughed on, looking quite frantic.

"I took this book from Bathilda Bagshot's house. He wrote letters to Gellert Grindelwald. They were friends," Hermione explained, "And, look-" she opened the book and showed them a copy of a letter, "-look how Dumbledore signed his name,"

Gellert-

Your point about Wizard dominance being FOR THE MUGGLES' OWN GOOD - this, I think, is the crucial point. Yes, we have been given power and yes, the power gives us the right to rule, but it also gives us responsibilities over the ruled. We must stress this point, it will be the foundation stone upon which we will build. Where we are opposed, as we surely will be, this must be this basis of our counter arguments. We seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD. And from this it follows that we met resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary ad no more. (This was your mistake at Durmstrang! But I do not complain, because if you had not been expelled, we would never have met.)

Albus.

Dumbledore had not written his name with an 'A', but with the triangular symbol that had been following them around. Lydia sat back in her chair, frowning at the letter. That did not at all seem like the Dumbledore she had known. That was the sort of narrative that a magical supremacist would follow. Harry looked quite shell shocked.

"He agreed with Grindelwald?" He asked.

"I don't think he completely agreed with him, Harry," Hermione said gently, "I don't think he wanted to have complete control of Muggles,"

"That's not what it says there!" Harry said furiously, "He said that we have 'the right to rule'. He sounds like You-Know-Who!"

"He was only seventeen-"

"I'm seventeen! You don't see me acting like that!"

"Yes, but we're in a completely different situation than Dumbledore was when he was seventeen," Lydia said, "If You-Know-Who had never killed our parents, we'd be completely different,"

"We wouldn't be like-"

Ron cleared his throat loudly, "We should do a vote on who whether or not we should go to see Lovegood or not,"

"I think it's a bad idea," Lydia said.

"I don't," Harry said, "I want to find out what this symbol is," he was looking at Dumbledore's letter as though it had personally offended him.

"All in favour of going to Xenophilius Lovegood's house, put your hand up," Ron said brightly. His wand went in the air even before Hermione's, who was still glaring at Ron as she did so. Harry also put his hand up, infuriating Lydia.

"Sorry, Lyds," Ron said, clapping her on the back, "Three to one,"

"You're only doing this to get back in Hermione's good books," Lydia snapped.

"Cheer up. Besides, it's the Christmas holidays! Luna will be home!"

The next morning, they packed everything up and left for the Lovegoods. Ron had a vague idea of where they lived for they actually lived quite close to The Burrow and took the lead. She wondered if it was more subdued than usual with George not being there. It was strange being so close to The Burrow but not going. Lydia's stomach tumbled at the thought of Mrs Weasley's cooking but she carried on after Harry, Ron and Hermione, anyway. There was no point in dwelling on something that she couldn't do. Ron seemed to determinedly not looking in the direction of his homes. Harry was probably too busy thinking about Ginny to think about much else.

"That's gotta be it!" Ron said, panting slightly and pointing at an unusual looking house on the top of a rather steep hill, "where else would Luna have grown up?"

"You better be right, Weasley," Lydia said, "my legs are killing,"

"It kind of looks like a rook," Ron said, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"It looks nothing like a bird," Hermione said.

"No, not the bird. The Chess piece...the castle- you know what, never mind," he said, "let's go,"

Ron got the top of the hill much quicker thanks to his ridiculously long legs. By the time Lydia made it over the top of the hill with Harry and Hermione, she was sporting a painful stitch in her side. Ron, however, was grinning at them all and rather looked like a man who had just been told he'd won the lottery.

He lead the way up to the slightly crooked house and pushed the broken gate open, on which three handwritten signs were written: "The Quibbler Editor: X. Lovegood," - "Pick your own Mistletoe!" - "Keep off the Dirigible plums,". The zigzagging path that lead to the front door was overgrown with a variety of odd plants, none of which Lydia have ever seen in the Herbology greenhouses at Hogwarts. At the front door of the house there was a bush covered in orange, radish-like fruit that Luna sometimes wore as earrings.

Hermione shoved Lydia and Harry forward, "It's you two, Mr Lovegood wants to help, not us," she knocked on the door three times and then took a step back.

Barely ten seconds had passed and the door was yanked open, revealing Xenophilius Lovegood. His hair was dirty and unkempt and he was wearing a dirty nightshirt. His eyes travelled over Ron, then over Hermione and finally came to rest on Lydia and Harry. She couldn't read what expression was on his face, but she knew that it wasn't one of happiness to see them there.

"Hello, Mr Lovegood. I'm Harry, Harry Potter. This is my sister, Lydia Potter," he said, holding out his hand.

Xenophilius did not take his hand. So Lydia took over.

"We're sorry for turning up unannounced," she said, "but we need to talk to you about something important. Could we please come in?"

"I...I am not sure that is advisable," Xenophilius whispered. He cast a look around the room as though expecting someone else, "This is rather a shock to the system - you shouldn't...I'm not sure that I should..."

"It won't take long, sir," Lydia continued, "we shouldn't be here long," she paused for a moment, "I don't know if you know, but we're friends with your daughter, Luna,"

"F-fine..fine, do come in, do come in," he said, moving aside to let them in.

They were barely in the house when Xenophilius slammed the door shut behind them. Lydia looked around, a smile playing on her lips. Only Luna could live somewhere like this, and she was quite sure that Luna must have helped a lot in the decoration of the place. It was a circular room painted in overwhelmingly bright primary colours, on which birds and flowers were painted. It was what Lydia assumed the inside of Luna's brain looked like. Above them, Lydia could hear a lot of clattering and banging. What on earth could Luna be doing? Lydia could tell by the look on Ron's face that he couldn't wait to find out. No one amused Ron quite like Luna Lovegood.

"We should go upstairs," said Xenophilius, though he still looked very uncomfortable.

He lead them up a winding, wrought iron staircase to the top floor. Hermione tried to ask what Luna was doing, but he completely ignored her and carried on. The room above seemed to be a combination of a workspace and living room. It was completely cluttered and tiny. There were piles and piles of books on every surface. Delicately made models of creatures that Lydia had never seen, hung from the ceilings. Lydia glanced around, expecting to see Luna in the corner, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Mr Lovegood, what's that?" Hermione asked suddenly, pointing at something on the other side of the room.

Lydia looked over at whatever she was pointing at. It was an enormous, grey spiral horn, not unlike that of a unicorn.

"It is the horn of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack," said Xenophilius.

"No, it isn't!" Hermione said.

"Hermione," muttered Harry, "Now isn't the time,"

"But Harry! That's an Erumpent horn! It's a Class B Tradeable Material and it's an extraordinarily dangerous thing to have in a house!"

"It's a what? How do you know?" Ron asked, edging away from it as far as the cluttered room would allow.

"There's a description of them in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them!" Hermione explained, "You know that it can explode at the slightest touch!"

"Ah," Xenophilius said, "my Luna told me about you, Miss Granger..."

"Anyway," Harry said, clearing his throat, "We need your help, Mr Lovegood,"

"Yes...well...helping Harry and Lydia Potter...that's quite dangerous these days..." He muttered, "very, very dangerous, in fact..."

"I thought you were all for us helping Harry and Lydia? That's what it says in your magazine, anyway," Ron said.

"Where is Luna, Mr Lovegood?" Lydia asked, "Let's see what she has to say about this,"

"She is down at the stream fishing for Freshwater Plimpies. Perhaps you would like to go and find her, Miss Potter?" Xenophilius said.

"M-me?" Lydia said, "Yeah, sure." She stood up.

"I don't think we should split up-"

"It's fine," Lydia said, "It's only Luna,"

"The stream is behind the house. She'll probably be at Bottom Bridge," Xenophilius said, with the air of someone trying to end a conversation as quickly as possible.

She left the room and walked down the stairs, quite happy to get out of the house. Lydia loved Luna, but she wasn't sure she was too keen on her father. He seemed to have backtracked on all the words of support he had written on behalf of Harry and Lydia. She was also quite happy to get away from a house that contained an exploding horn. Lydia had no idea how he would have managed to come across something like an Erumpent Horn, but she was quite sure that it wasn't legal.

Lydia walked around the back of the house and walked along the edge of the stream, holding her wand tightly. She felt quite vulnerable being so out in the open, but she couldn't imagine there being many Death Eaters in Ottery St Catchpole. Then again, she never would have thought that Snape would have killed Dumbledore. Sure, he might have killed her or Harry, but never Dumbledore.

"Luna?" Lydia called, as she neared the bridge, "Are you here?"

There was no answer. Lydia supposed that Luna would be so far in her own little world that she wouldn't be able to hear her. When she got the bridge, however, and she couldn't see Luna, Lydia grew confused. Maybe she was at the wrong bridge. There was a noise overhead and Lydia looked up. Three dark cloaked figures flew overhead and Lydia felt her heart sink. Luna wasn't here at all, and Xenophilius Lovegood was more than happy to give them up to the Death Eaters.

"Oh, you absolute fucker," she muttered.

"Hey! There's the girl! Get her!" One of the Death Eaters shouted.

"Really?" Lydia groaned as a Death Eater landed in front of her, his wand outstretched.

" _Stupe_ -"

" _Protego_!" Lydia said quickly.

"They said you were more dangerous than this," the Death Eater taunted, "said I should watch out if I ever end up duelling you,"

"Would you like me to be full on because I should warn you, if I do, there's every chance that I will win," Lydia said, backing up as he advanced on her.

The Death Eater laughed, "That's what your Fiancé said. He said that you've never actually lost a duel,"

Lydia lowered her wand, "you've never met my-"

"Yes, I have," he said, smiling slightly, "who do you think caught him? He put up quite a fight, he did. He shut up once I hit him with the Cruciatus Curse...well, not quite shut up," he laughed again, "but there was a lot less fighting, I'll tell you that much,"

"Is he alive?" Lydia asked, "Tell me, is he alive?"

"For now,"

Before she could stop herself, Lydia had shouted, " _sectumsempra_!"

At once, Lydia took off running back up the stream and kicked the door open. Halfway up the stairs, there was a massive bang and Lydia almost tumbled all the way back down. Coughing as dust rose up around her, she pulled herself back up the stairs and froze as she ran into the other two Death Eaters. They had their back up to her and had no idea she was there. Having no idea what to do, Lydia crept back down the stairs and to the bottom floor. Harry, Ron and Hermione wouldn't leave without her, but they also might not have any choice.

She ran back out into the front garden and looked up at the house. The top of it had been half destroyed. Lydia jumped out of the way as some debris almost fell on top of her. She couldn't see Harry, Ron or Hermione. What if they had been killed in the blast?

"Harry?" She yelled, "Ron? Hermione?"

There was a crack and Lydia jumped as Hermione appeared next to her with Harry and Ron. They looked unhurt, though thoroughly pissed off.

"What happened?" Lydia demanded.

"Not now," Harry said, grabbing her hand, "Hermione, go."

Lydia's feet thudded to the ground and her knees almost gave way. Harry grabbed her tighter.

"Are you OK?" He asked, "What happened?"

"I went to find Luna, but she obviously wasn't there, and then those Death Eaters came. There was a third one and...and...and..." she took a deep shuddering breath, "and..he mentioned George," she burst into tears.

Harry wrapped his arms around her, "Is he...is he..."

"He said he was alive..." Lydia whispered, "for now,"

Ron put his hand on her back. "We'll find him, Lydia, I promise,"

It took her a few moments to pull herself together but she finally took a step back from Harry and nodded, wiping her eyes. "Yeah. We'll find him,"

"What happened whilst I was gone?" Lydia asked.

Hermione put the tent up with a flick of her wand, "the sign is the sign of the Deathly Hallows,"

"The Deathly what now?"

"There's a story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard," Hermione said, "Called the Tale of the Three Brothers. It's a fairytale about death. According to the Beedle the Bard, Death approached three brothers and gave them whatever they wanted. One brother wanted something to bring back the dead, and so Death gave him the resurrection stone, which brought people back to life. The other brother wanted a wand more powerful than any other, and the third wanted a Cloak of Invisibility which would allow him to avoid Death for the rest of his life. Those three things together are called the Death Hallows. Whoever owns them all, would be the Master of Death, and could never die,"

"Oh," Lydia said, "So loads of rubbish,"

"No!" Harry exclaimed, "No! It's not loads of rubbish!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "We should be looking for Horcruxes, Harry, not Hallows-"

"But that's not what he's looking for!" Harry protested, "You-Know-Who wants the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility! That way, he's the Master of Death!"

"He's already the Master of Death with the Horcruxes," Ron pointed out, "He can't die unless-"

"Dumbledore wanted me to find them so that I could defeat him," Harry said quietly, "If we have the Elder Wand-"

"-that doesn't exist-" Hermione interjected.

"-there's not way we wouldn't be able to defeat him!" Harry said.

"They don't exist, Harry," Hermione said impatiently, "Horcruxes, not Hallows, remember?"

"You say they don't exist, but the Chamber of Secrets was meant to be a myth, wasn't it?" Ron said thoughtful.

"The Chamber of Secrets doesn't make someone the Master of Death though, Ron. No one can be the Master of Death. It's impossible. Death comes for us all whether we like it or not!" Hermione snapped.

"What a lovely thought,"

"But, Hermione, don't you see? It's so important that we look for them! That's how we defeat Vol-"

"HARRY NO!" Ron yelled.

"-demort-"

"Snatchers are gonna come for us!" Ron said, jumping up, "Oh - no...we didn't...we didn't put the enchantments up! We need to do something-"

"Whoever's in there, come out! You got half a dozen wands pointing at you and we don't really care who we curse, do we lads?" A voice yelled.

"This is a bad day," Lydia muttered, "This is a terrible day - hey! What are you doing?" Hermione had grabbed her hand and was pulling her towards the mouth of the tent.

"The moment we got out of here, we run. All right?" Hermione said fiercely, "And we stay together,"

No one argued.

"OK," Hermione said, "Three...two...one...GO!"

They burst out of the tent and took off running. Lydia was trying to focus on not tripping over with Hermione close behind her. Curses and jinxes flew over their heads, cracking against the trees. A branch off an old tree fell to the ground with a loud thump, separating Lydia and Hermione from Ron and Harry.

"STUPEFY!" Lydia yelled.

The jet of red light hit the Snatcher closest to her in the chest and he fell backwards. Lydia waved her wand and the other one quickly went down. Hermione turned to her, her eyes wild and shoved her in the chest, pushing her away from her.

"Find us!" Hermione screamed and then she ran away.

"'Mione! Wait!"

Lydia's foot caught on a protruding tree root and she toppled backwards. The ground suddenly sloped and she tumbled backwards, finally coming to a rest at the base of an ancient looking tree, the wind knocked out of her. She lay there for a few seconds, trying to remember how to breathe. Her surroundings were eerily quiet and she had no idea where the others were.

Limping slightly, Lydia snatched her wand of the ground and clambered back up the slope. She gasped and ducked down just as two Snatchers walked past her. They froze for a moment and looked around. The sounds of leaves crunching under boots told her that she was once again alone.

Then the panic set in. She slid back down the slope, and for a moment, she sat cross legged on the floor, holding nothing but her bag and her wand and wondering what on earth she was going to do. She had never tackled anything alone before. Harry, Ron and Hermione had always been by her side through everything and now they were gone. Her mind jumped to the worst conclusion and he quickly shut it down. They would get out of this. She would get them out of this.

Somehow.


	27. Taking a Stand

**_"The measure of a man is what he does with power,"_**

 ** _\- Plato_**

Lydia turned on the spot and Apparated to the first place she thought of - Privet Drive. She wasn't entirely sure why this was the first place she thought of, but she needed to feel like she was doing something. Trying to look as casual as possible, she started to walk towards Number four put then quickly stopped herself when she remembered what Mad-Eye had said about how the house was being watched and quickly turned back around.

She could go to Mrs Figg, but there was no way a Squib could take on Snatchers. Keeping her head down so not to alert the neighbours, Lydia hurried down the street and tried to think of everywhere she could go; Tonks was probably weeks away from giving birth, and so there was no point in even trying to find Remus, she did not want to go to The Burrow because she had put enough Weasley's in danger and was in no rush to do so again. Of course, her mind jumped straight to James but there was no point - she had no idea where he was and could not even think of a good place to start. He would not be at his flat for that would be being watched and the Death Eaters would know where Grimmauld Place is now, so there was no chance she would find him there. Resigned to the fact that she was completely on her own, Lydia carried on walking and tried to think logically like Hermione would, but she didn't seem to possess an ounce of logic.

Without realising it, Lydia had somehow walked all the way to the fields behind Privet Drive. She and Harry used to walk along these fields for hours in a desperate attempt to get away from Uncle Vernon and his bad moods. Then it hit her. She didn't understand how it had taken her this long t think of it, Harry had been going on about it for months, after all. And desperate times called for desperate measures. She pulled the mirror out of her bag and, not caring how crazy she looked, she yelled into it.

"Help me! help me! I'm in the fields behind Privet Drive. Help me!" A blue eye flashed in the mirror and then disappeared, "Wait! Did you hear me? The others have been-"

"Have you finally cracked, Potter?" a familiar voice drawled, "Why are you talking into a mirror?"

Lydia's head snapped up and the tip of her wand found Draco Malfoy's face. He looked quite bored and that infuriated Lydia.

" _Stupe_ -

"Wait!" He said it forcefully that she actually did, "Wait. I want to help you,"

"You want to-"

"Help you, yes," he said, "I - I know I've been a bit of a prat in the past and I want to put that all behind me. I'm not - I don't...my family...we don't see eye to eye. I want to help you,"

Lydia frowned at him, "And you think I'm just going to put all that behind me and trust you? How stupid do you think I am?"

"George trusts me," Draco said. He reached into his pocket and took something out of it. It took Lydia a few moments to realise that that it was Fabio. She rushed forward and took him in her heads. When he realised that it was her, Fabio squeaked happily and curled up in her heads, "When he was brought in, I found Fabio in his pocket and-"

"He's alive?" Lydia asked, hurriedly, "George, is he alive?"

"Yes, and so is Harry, Granger and Weasley. They're at the Manor but if you don't hurry up-"

There was a load crack and Lydia jumped. She looked around expecting to find Bellatrix, or even Voldemort, but her eyes only fell upon Dobby, who was wearing two mismatched socks and a Weasley jumper that was so long it was more of a dress than a jumper and James who looked tired and weary, but happy to see her nonetheless. Both of them looked between Lydia and Draco with a confused look on their faces.

"Dad!" Lydia exclaimed, running over to him and throwing her arms around him.

"Lyds," he breathed, "you're ok. You're OK. I thought - I hadn't heard from you - Aberfoth said-"

"Who?"

"Dumbledore's brother. He's got the other mirror. When you spoke into it, he called me straight away and said you needed help. He said something about Harry and the others,"

"They're at Malfoy Manor," Draco said, "and we need to go, now!"

James' expression darkened when hise eyes fell on Draco and he immediately drew his wand, but Lydia forced his arm down and shook her head, trying to explain how he was on their side. James was looking at her as though she had gone mad, and she wasn't sure that she hadn't. Why she was suddenly trusting Draco Malfoy, she did not know but they weren't in any position to have a long discussion about it.

"Dobby doesn't like to insult Miss Potter, but Dobby thinks that she might have lost her mind," the House-Elf said, wringing his hands together, "The Malfoys are bad wizards-"

"Dobby, listen to me," Lydia said, quickly, "Harry, Ron, Hermione and George are at Malfoy Manor I need to get to them, regardless of who I have to work with,"

"I understand, Miss Potter!" Dobby cried.

"They're in the basement," Draco said, quickly, "Mr Ollivander, Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas are also there. I only have George's, Weasley's and Harry's wand,"

Dobby nodded at him, took the wands and then disappeared with another loud crack. Draco turned to Lydia and held out his hand, but she scowled at him and he rolled his eyes.

'I'm still not convinced about all this," James said, loudly.

"And I'm not holding your hand," Lydia snapped.

"Please," he said, "We need to get to Harry. The Dark Lord will come, and they will kill him,"

"Fine," Lydia said, grabbing James and pulling him over to them before gripping Draco's wrist, "You broke Harry's heart, you know,"

"I know," he said, quietly.

"Remember when I punched you in third year?"

"Vividly,"

"I can punch even harder now,"

"Lovely," he muttered.

They Apparated to outside to a house that was so big, Lydia was sure that he had gone to the wrong place. It was even bigger than Grimmauld Place. It looked like a house from an old Victorian painting had come to life. Draco tried to pull Lydia towards it, but she was too busy staring up at in shock to even think about moving. She had known the Malfoy's were rich, but she didn't think that they were this level of rich. It was almost ghastly, having enough money to buy a house like this one.

"You live here?" Lydia asked.

"Yes, Potter," Draco said, through gritted teeth "Now, come on,"

"Sorry, but I lived in a cupboard under the stairs for a while,"

He tutted and dragged them through the gates and up the driveway, on which massive peacocks were strolling up and down. Lydia opened her mouth to comment on the peacocks, but James told her to be quiet before she could get the words out. Sometimes she felt as though her father could read her mind and she wasn't sure she was very happy about that fact. When they reached the doors, Draco turned around to them both and held out his hands.

"Wands,"

"Ha, nice try, kid," James laughed, "I'm not going in there unarmed,"

"I'll give it to you at the right moment," Draco said.

"I'm still not giving you my wand!" Lydia exclaimed.

"Lydia, please,"

Perhaps it was the use of her first name, or the fact that they really were in a dire situation, but Lydia's glare softened and she handed her wand over. James glared at Draco for a few seconds longer and then handed the wand over.

"If you try and double cross us, please be aware that I can turn into a Stag and you'll very quickly find out why my nickname was Prongs," James hissed.

Draco looked temporarily worried but then his face melted into the sneer that Lydia was so used to seeing, "Just be on your best behaviour,"

The moment they stepped foot into the house, horrific screams cut through Lydia like a knife and she knew who they belonged to straight away. Forgetting that she was completel unarmed, Lydia flung herself down the corridor but Draco grabbed her around the middle and wrenched her backwards. They both hit the floor but Lydia was the first to get up and started to run again, but this time James was the one who yanked her away from the doors.

"Don't be an idiot," he said, "You'll only make it worse for her,"

"That's my best friend!" Lydia yelled, "I need to get to her! I need to-"

The door at the end of the corridor opened and a small figure walked towards them. At first, Lydia could not see who it was but then she heard James swear under his breath and he suddenly looked like he was going to collapse. Next to her, Draco groaned and Lydia suddenly knew why - Peter Pettigrew was walking towards them. Her heart began to beat out of control, this was the first time Pettigrew and her father had come face to face since the last time they had saw each other before Pettigrew gave James and Lily up to Voldemort.

"P-Prongs!" Pettigrew exclaimed, clearly surprised to see him.

"Don't call me that," James spat, his voice full of contempt, "You don't get to call me that. You don't have the right to call me that! After everything - after everything that we went through...the full moons...not even that, we were friends. You were my best friend, I was always there-"

The door opened for a second time and Lucius Malfoy came marching towards them, "What is taking you so long, Wormtail? Your only job was to see if that was the Potter girl- ah," an evil smile curled onto his face, "Well done, Draco. You found the whole family. How lovely it will be for Harry to see his sister and father killed,"

"They weren't that hard to find," Draco said, smoothly, "There have been lots of threats of violence though,"

"I would expect nothing more," Lucius Malfoy shrugged. He turned to Pettigrew, "And what a lovely school reunion for you too, Wormtail,"

"Don't call him that," James said, "He's not Wormtail. He's a fucking treacherous-"

"Do be quiet, James," Lucius sighed, "You're nobility has gotten quite boring over the years. Come, everyone,"

Two more Snatchers appeared behind them and grabbed James by the arms, dragging him after Lucius Malfoy. Without looking at her, Draco grabbed Lydia and dragged her kicking and struggling into the drawing room. Hermione was lay in the middle of the floor, sobbing as Bellatrix Lestrange stood over her, her wand aimed at her chest. Lydia screamed again and tried to get to Hermione, but Dravo hauled her backwards again and she fell into the wall, hitting her head.

"Finished?" Draco asked.

"I haven't decided yet,"

'If the Mudblood won't tell me where she got the sword then maybe Potter will," Bellatrix said, slowly walking towards Lydia with her wand outstretched.

"I - no," Lydia said, eyeing Bellatrix's wand, "No. I don't know,"

Bellatriix narrowed her eyes at her, "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Well, when people don't know the answer to a question they generally answer by saying I don't-"

" _Crucio_!"

Lydia screamed as every bone in her body was set on fire. She collapsed backwards into Malfoy who seemed to have suddenly frozen. He removed his arms from around her middle and she fell to the floor, curling into a ball and willing the pain away. She could hear James yelling at Bellatrix, but she was too busy cackling at Lydia's pain to notice anything out.

"Come now, Potter, you know you want to tell me - _Crucio!"_

"GET OFF HER! GET OFF HER!" James screamed, "DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!"

Lydia forced herself off the floor and staggered away from Bellatrix. Before she fell to the floor again, Draco grabbed her and held her upright. The pain had subsided but had not completely gone away. Hermione was still lay sobbing on the floor and Lydia felt completely helpless. She had no idea what to do and how to save anyone. Draco seemed to have completely forgotten that he was meant to be on their side because he did not seem ready to hand her wand back over to her.

"This could be over so quickly if you just told me where you got the Sword!" Bellatrix said, speaking very softly.

Lydia whimpered and shook her head as Bellatrix raised her wand again, "I told you. I don't know. I don't know,"

"Someone go and get the Weasley twin!" Bellatrix barked, "Maybe then she'll tell us something worthwhile,"

"No!" Lydia gasped, "No! Not George! Not George! He has nothing to do with this!"

"Even better!" Bellatrix smiled.

Minutes later, Fenrir Greyback reappeared dragging George behind him. Lydia's heart dropped to her stomach as her eyes fell on him; there was dried blood around his nose and there was a large bruise forming on his jaw. Blood poured out of a large gash on his forehead and Lydia suddenly wanted to kill every single person in the room. Draco seemed to be able to sense this and held onto her tighter.

"Lydia!" George said, "Why are you - what are you-"

Greyback shoved George into the middle of the room and he fell to the floor. Lydia yelled and tried to get to him, but Draco shoved her against the wall again, shaking his head. Lydia no longer cared about Draco Malfoy or whatever damn plan he had come up with, the only thing she cared about was getting to George and getting everyone out of there.

"Lyds, we're going to be fine. We're all going to be OK," James whispered to her, "We're going to get out of here, we're going to get out of here-"

" _CRUCIO_!"

A sound that Lydia never wanted to hear come out of George's mouth rang around the room. The sound mixed with Bellatrix's laughter and Draco whispered, "wait, not yet, not yet," in her ear over and over again. Lydia's eyes found Hermione where she was huddled in the corner of the room, and she shook her head once. Lydia knew that she had to play this properly.

"Do you want to start talking now, Potter?" Bellatrix asked, "Did you break into my vault at Gringotts?"

"N-no!" Lydia shouted through her sobs, "No! That's impossible! We could never!"

"Leave him alone!" James yelled, "he's just a kid. He's got no part in this,"

Bellatrix looked at James for a moment and then nodded, "Your nobility will be the death of you, James Potter,". She kicked George away from her and nodded at the two Snatchers holding James. Chuckling to themselves, they shoved him towards Bellatrix and he crashed to the floor. Lydia tried to get over to him, but Draco was a lot stronger than he seemed.

"Well, I came back the last time someone tried to kill me, didn't I?"

" _Crucio_!"

As James began to yell, Lydia felt Draco slide her wand into the back pocket of her jeans.

"STOP IT!" Lydia screamed, "STOP IT! STOP IT! I'LL TELL YOU WHERE WE GOT IT!"

Bellatrix removed her wand from James and he fell to the floor, gasping for breath. She cackled and walked towards her, "How did you get into my vault at Gringotts?"

" _Depulso!"_ Lydia yelled.

For the first time in her life, Bellatrix Lestrange was caught off guard and she flew through the air, hitting the back wall and sliding down it. At once, Lydia ran forward and grabbed James, pulling him upright and shoving him behind her as she dived towards George. She grabbed a hold of his hand and wrenched him upwards, pushing him towards James who caught him before he fell to the ground. Just as Bellatrix was clambering off the floor and Lydia started to run for Hermione, the doors of the basement opened and Harry and Ron burst out, both holding wands. Lydia couldn't help but laugh as she ducked under a curse sent her way by Lucius Malfoy and helped Hermione off the floor.

"Are you OK?" Lydia asked.

"I've been better," Hermione muttered, she sounded very weak and her eyes were drooping slightly. Lydia put her arm around her shoulders and fought to keep her upright, holding her wand up as Lucius Malfoy came towards them.

" _Stupefy_!" Lydia yelled. The curse caught him in the chest and he toppled backwards into one of the armchairs by the fireplace.

Ron suddenly appeared at their side and took Hermione off Lydia. "You alright, Lyds?"

"Brilliant," Lydia replied, "Are you? Did she hurt you?

"No," he said, "but we need to hurry up. You-Know-Who is on his way,"

Lydia spun around just as Harry began to duel Draco, "No!" she yelled, "Harry, don't-"

But he was not listening to her, " _Expelliarmus_!" Draco's wand flew through the air and Harry caught it, looking quite pleased with himself. Lydia shouted at him again and he turned to stare at her, his eyebrows raised and giving her a look that quite plainly said, "are you trying to get us killed or what?"

There was a scuffle, a bang and yell of pain and Bellatrix suddenly had ahold of George again. Draco appeared behind her and he dragged her away from Ron and Hermione. Harry started towards Draco again but Lydia shook her head and he froze mid stride, staring at her as though she had lost her mind. It was in moments like this when Lydia wished that twin telepathy was a real thing and they could speak to each other without having to say anything.

"Wands down!" Bellatrix yelled, "Wands down, or I'll kill him!"

"Listen to her," Harry snapped, "That means you too, Ron,"

There was a clatter as Harry and Ron dropped their wands to the floor. Draco reached around her and snatched her wand out of her hand, but he pu it straight back into her pocket without anyone noticing. Lydia locked eyes with George and tried to convince him that everything would be OK, that they would get through this, but he looked completely and utterly defeated. He just shook his head slightly and closed his eyes, as though he was awaiting death. But they would get through this. He didn't know that Draco was really on their side. He wasn't aware that he was risking everything to help them get out of this.

"Now, Miss Potter, you're going to tell me where you got that sword or I will kill your Finace,"

"Don't tell her, Lyds," George said, "Don't do it. For once in your life, don't speak,"

Bellatrix raised her eyebrows at Lydia, "You're going to die anyway, Potter, you might as well tell me,"

"We're all going to die one day, anyway," Lydia shrugged, "Whether it be in the next two minutes or twenty years,"

"I don't think you understand that I am not opposed to killing him like I was not opposed to killing my filthy cousin-"

Whatever she was going to say next, Lydia would never find out. The mention of Sirius seemed to stir something in James. He head butted the Snatcher who was holding him, snatched his wand off the floor and threw himself towards Bellatrix. With a simple flick of his wand, Bellatrix was sliding across the floor and hit her head rather hard on the wall and seemed unable to stand up again. Even George managed a laugh as James stooped down to pick him up again, but then a Snatcher moved forward with his wand raised and a jet of green light caught James in the face.

There was a moment in which nothing happened. No one moved. No one breathed. No one made a sound. Even George stayed next to James, staring down at his lifeless body as though he was going to get up soon. Which he would, Lydia told herself, he would get up. That's what happened the last time this happened. They had thought he had died but he was just unconscious. Harry's sobs were the first noise to punctuate the silence and Lydia looked up at him, quite serenely.

"Harry, it's fine, he's going to get up in a minute. It's what happened the last time," she said, but he was gripping onto Ron and sobbing, "He's going to get up! Dad! Dad! D-Dad? Dad?"

"Lydia, he's gone," Draco whispered, "He's gone,"

Bellatrix began to laugh and that was the sound that brought Lydia back to earth. The sound of her cackling reminded her of when she killed Sirius, and the shameless joy that she got from it. Darkness seemed to cloud Lydia's mind and all she wanted to do was get revenge. Possessed by a sudden strength that she did not have moments ago, Lydia pushed Draco away from her and whipped her wand out, advancing on the Snatcher that had killed her father. Narcissa Malfoy ran forward, her own wand raised but Bellatrix held up her hand, stopping her sister.

"You've got to really feel it, Potter..." Bellatrix whispered, "You've got to mean it,"

"What're you going to do? What're you going to do, Potter? You gonna kill me?" The Snatcher taunted, "You gonna kill me? You gonna put me in my place for murdering your blood traitor of a father?"

" _Avada Kadavra_!"

The Killing Curse was like no other spell she had ever cast. A peculiar feeling that she was not sure she had ever felt before seemed to resonate within her soul and engulf her entire being. It was over so quickly. The green light flashed and the Snatcher fell to the ground like a tree that had been cut down in the forest. It was only as she stared at the lifeless body of the man she had killed and Bellatrix's laughter rose up around her that she was able to put a finger on it; power. But it was power unlike she had ever felt before. It was more than winning a simple duel or scoring he winning goal in a Quidditch match. No, it made her feel unstoppable. It made her feel like no one would ever be able to touch her again.

"You're not better than us, Potter!" Bellatrix shrieked, "You're one of us now!"

There was another flash of light and Lydia spun around just as Harry disarmed another Snatcher and threw the wand to Hermione, who caught the wand and turned it on Bellatrix, who was moments away from cursing an unsuspecting Lydia. George pulled himself off the ground and grabbed Lydia's arm, trying to pull her backwards but she was rooted on the spot. Bellatrix's words echoed through her mind; she was right. Lydia was just as bad as they were. She had just killed someone in the same way that Voldemort killed people. In the same way that Voldemort had killed her own mother.

"Lyds, come on, we have to go-"

There was a peculiar squeaking sound and Lydia looked up. Dobby was sat on the swinging chandelier, trying to unscrew it, his face screwed up in concentration. Even Bellatrix stopped what she was doing to look up in confusion.

"Dobby, you might want to try turning it the other way," Draco said, calmly.

"Ah, thank-you Mister Malfoy!" Dobby said.

There was an almighty crash and Draco dived towards George and Lydia, pulling them out of harms way before the chandelier fell onto them. Dobby hopped off the chandelier and ran towards Harry, Ron and Hermione who were all huddled together, holding their hands out. Lydia automatically went to look at Harry but he would not quite meet her eyes and was instead looking at Ron's shoulder. Draco tugged on her arm and tried to pull her towards them.

"No, my dad, we need to get dad, we can't leave without him!" She yelled, "Dad! Someone get him! Get him!"

"Potter, we need to go! We need to leave!" Draco yelled.

"Draco," Narcissa said, walking towards her son, "Draco, what are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago," he said, managing to push Lydia behind him. She stumbled into Harry who caught her but would still not quite look at her, "I stand with the Children Who Lived,"

"ELF!" Bellatrix roared, "DO NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE!WE ARE YOU MASTERS, LISTEN TO-"

"Dobby has no master1 Dobby is a free elf!"

Bellatrix flung her knife through the air just as Dobby clicked his fingers and Malfoy Manor disappeared from around them. Lydia could suddenly smell the sea and wind whipped her hair. She fell to the ground and icy water swept over her hands. The adrenaline had wore off and she was suddenly nothing but a shaking mess, curled up on the shore of a beach. She hated every fibre of her being for casting the Killing Curse, but hated herself a little bit more for the fact that the only reason she disliked it so much was because people had seen her do it. If it had just been her and the Snatcher in the room, then she knew she wouldn't have cared.

"Dad!" Lydia suddenly yelled, "Dad! We need to go back for him! We can't leave him! Dobby! Come on, let's go back! D-Dobby? What's - What's wrong?"

Harry was knelt with the elf in his arms. Blood was steadily pouring out of a wound in his chest from which a knife was protruding.

"Dobby..." Lydia whispered, "N-no. It's fine. We can - we can get you fixed and - and -"

"Such a beauty place to be with friends..." Dobby said, gasping for breath, "D-Dobby is glad he is friends with Harry and Lydia Potter," and then he was still.

Lydia staggered away from Harry and Dobby and looked around. George was stood metres from her, holding out his arms towards her but she didn't want to be near him. She didn't want to be near anyone. The sound of approaching footsteps made Lydia turn around. Bill ad Fleur were hurrying over to them. At first, she couldn't understand why they were there, but then she saw a small cottage in the distance and Lydia supposed that that was where they lived.

"Come on, Lydia," Bill said, putting his arm around George who was still weak and shivering, "We'll call your dad and get him to come here,"

"I want to be on my own,"

"Wait! Lydia, you cant! This is the only part that's protected! The wards end here!" Bill said, hastily, "they'll be able to find you,"

"Good,"

"Let her go," Harry said, his voice thick with tears, "she'll be back,"


	28. Shell Cottage

**_"Our dead are never dead to us ,_**

 ** _Until we have forgotten them,"_**

 ** _\- George Eliot_**

Lydia clambered up onto a rock and sat with her knees drawn up to her chest as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. Her wand lay next to her, but she wasn't entirely sure that she would use it should someone come and try to kill her. She wasn't sure that she ever wanted to cast a spell again for fear that she would practice Dark Magic again. Moreover, Lydia wasn't sure she had anything to live for anymore. Harry would barely look at her and if she were George, she wasn't sure she'd be thrilled about spending the rest of her life with a murderer.

And, of course, there was James. The fact that he was dead had not sank in. Whenever Lydia felt like her thoughts were too harsh, her first instinct was to go and find him to speak to him, but then she remembered what had happened. He had been given a second chance and then it was taken away from him so cruelly. And Lydia did not regret what she did, and that somehow made her feel worse, something that Lydia did not think was possible.

Even worse, guilt gnawed away at her heart whenever Lydia thought about Dobby. From where she was sat, Lydia had been able to watch Harry bury him. Dobby had only ever wanted to help her and Harry, and that is what had gotten him killed. He had died a hero's death but that was not something that made Lydia feel any better.

"You know, sitting up there is an inconvenience to me,"

Lydia glanced at the ground and saw Draco stood there, looking up at her. She shrugged and looked away from him, listening to the sea crashing against the rocks. It was very relaxing.

"Fine, I'll get up there myself,"

After a few moments of grunting and swearing, Draco managed to actually get to her. She noticed that he left some space between them and she was very thankful for it.

"Thank-you for doing what you did," she said, finally breaking the silence.

"It's nothing," He said, "I'm sorry about your dad,"

Lydia nodded, "It'll pass, eventually,"

They fell into silence again and Lydia stared ahead, tears still falling thick and fast down her cheeks.

"You need to speak to Harry," Draco said, "he's distraught. You've just lost your-"

"I know," Lydia snapped.

"Alright, Alright," He said, quietly, "I just..." he groaned, "I'm really sorry that he's gone, Lydia. It's not fair,"

"You know, I spent my entire time at Hogwarts trying to prove that I wasn't a Dark Witch. Even though I was in Slytherin, I wanted people to know that I was a good person but...am I a good person? That's the second time I've killed someone without even thinking about it," she turned to look at Draco and his features were lit up by the moonlight, "and killing that Snatcher...the feeling I got afterwards..." she shook her head, "I think what Bellatrix said was right. I'm no better than the Death Eaters, am I?"

"Of course you are," Draco said, "You wouldn't kill for the fun of it, would you?"

"Yeah, but I shouldn't kill. I'm meant to be one of the good guys!" Lydia exclaimed, "Harry wouldn't kill anyone. He'd just disarm them and move on. I always have to take it that one step further,"

"Sometimes we don't have a choice," Draco said, quietly.

"I feel like I don't have any control over my life,"

"That makes two of us,"

It took a while, but Draco managed to convince Lydia to go in the house. It was too cold and dangerous outside, anyway. When they went inside, everyone was already asleep and so Lydia could put off having to face everyone for one more night, though she did struggle to sleep.

She was sleeping downstairs in the cramped living room of Shell Cottage. Dean and Luna were sleeping on the couches, whilst Harry, Ron and Draco were asleep on the floor. Lydia didn't miss how Harry and Ron were lay as far away from Draco as possible. Lydia was sure that Draco was still awake. He was breathing too heavily to be asleep. George couldn't sleep, either. Lydia sat with her back against the couch, whilst George was sat facing her, their knees not quite touching. Fabio was curled up on Lydia's shoulder, snoring slightly. If she closed her eyes, it was easy to pretend that she was back in the Slytherin Common Room. Back when she was there, things weren't too bad. George still had both ears and had never been tortured, Harry and Draco were making each other happy, Ron was doing well on the Gryffindor team and Hermione was happily stressed out thinking about her NEWTs. Dean and Luna should never have been caught up in any of this, and she felt even more guilty knowing that they were both separated from her families.

Lydia turned to look at George, his eyes were closed but Lydia knew that he wasn't asleep. Bill had sent a message to Mrs Weasley to tell them that George was alive and would be back home soon, but Lydia still couldn't shake the feeling of guilt. She knew that none of the Weasley's would blame her for this, but she couldn't help but blame herself for it.

"I'm sorry," Lydia said, again.

"I knew you would do this," George replied, opening his eyes and looking at her.

"Do what?"

"Blame yourself for everything that happened at Malfoy Manor," he said, "I already told you that I didn't care if he came for me-"

"But I care," she said, "Merlin, George, they tortured you!"

He reached out and took her hand, pulling her to sit next to him. "I know," he said softly, "I know," tears sprung to his eyes, "Merlin, I can still feel it, Lyds, I can't get it out of my head,"

"It'll get better in a few days," she promised, wiping his eyes.

"You shouldn't know that,"

Lydia shrugged, "All in a days work,"

"Are you okay? Your dad-"

"I'm not ready to talk about it," Lydia said quickly.

George did not bring it up again and they eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, Harry, Ron and Hermione were questioning Ollivander and Griphook about something that Lydia did not care about. Hermione briefly told her what they were doing and Lydia just nodded along, not really listening. Then, Hermione gave her a fleeting hug and disappeared upstairs with Harry and Ron. Feeling as though the walls of the cottage were closing in on her, Lydia followed George outside into the garden where Draco was sat on his own.

He looked odd wearing a pair of Bill's old robes. They weren't the kind a Malfoy would wear. Lydia thought he looked much better for it. She hesitantly walked over to him, followed by George and sat next to him. He looked up when he saw them but didn't say anything. There were deep bags underneath his bloodshot eyes, though Lydia couldn't tell if that was because he hadn't slept or because he had been crying. She supposed that it could have been both.

"I just want to say thank-you," George said, "for being so nice to me back..back there,"

Draco didn't say anything.

"I know it would have been easier for you to just go long with what they were telling you to do, but you didn't. And-and that means a lot,"

A long silence followed this and then:

"Do you think it's too late?" Draco asked, "to go back on everything?"

"No," Lydia said, "you risked your lives for us,"

"You're not actually as bad as I thought," George said, "in a different world, we might have been good friends,"

"Yeah, and I've always said that you and Fred should have been in Slytherin," Lydia said.

George looked deeply offended, "That's rude,"

"I was in Slytherin,"

"That's not the point-"

"I called Granger all those horrible things. I laughed at Weasley and his family. I was a terrible housemate to you-" Draco continued, obviously not hearing anything that was being said.

"-I was a terrible housemate to everyone, remember how much I cursed Urquhart?"

"-I was horrible to Har - Potter. I was a Death Eater. I nearly killed Dumbledore..."

"Because you didn't have a choice," Lydia said, "And you weren't always horrible to Harry,"

They exchanged looks and then burst into laughter. George gave them funny looks but didn't say anything. It was then that Lydia realised that Harry had never come out to the full Weasley family and kept her mouth shut.

"Maybe not," Malfoy said, "but I did make you have a panic attack last year,"

"Yeah, well, you know me and broom cupboards," she said.

"Why were you in a broom cupboard with him? You wouldn't even go in a broom cupboard with me," George said.

Draco sighed and put his head in his hands, "I suppose I can tell you this but I had a crush on Harry and kept on badgering Lydia about it. There was a broom cupboard involved at one point and it went terribly,"

George nodded, "Yeah, I know you did. Had a crush on Harry, I mean,"

"You did?"

"Most of us did," George said, "with the exception of Harry, probably. And after that poem..."

"You know about that?" Draco asked, turning red.

"Yeah...I asked Ginny if she wrote it and she said no and then a couple years later I heard Zabini tease you about it," George shrugged.

Lydia frowned at the two of them.

"Poem? What poem? Oh Merlin..."his eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad?"" Lydia asked, trying to bite back laughter.

"I was twelve..."

Lydia couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter. Dean, Luna and Fleur gave them funny looks. Draco was shaking his head over and over again.

"Don't tell him," Draco moaned.

"I would never. I owe you," George said clapping him on the back, "but I will most likely hold it over your head for the rest of your life,"

Bill walked over to them, "Georgie, can you help me with this food? There's a lot more people than usual,"

"I'll be right there!" He shouted to his brother. He turned back round to Draco and Lydia, "I'm going to play the torture card like you wouldn't believe,"

"Lydia, can I speak to you?"

Lydia turned around to find Harry stood behind them, looking quite awkward. Draco raised his eyebrows and then nodded and stood up. He nodded awkwardly at them both and then hurried away. Lydia glanced at Harry again but then quickly looked away. He looked too much like James. It was painful.

"Thanks for, uh, thanks for coming to find us," Harry said.

"It's nothing," Lydia said, "You'd have done the same for me,"

"Yeah..." He cleared his throat, "I'm - um - I'm really sorry about Dad,"

Tears sprang to Lydia's eyes and she nodded, "Me too," it came out as barely a whisper, "he had a second chance. He could have lived a full life and now..." She furiously wiped her eyes, "We can't even bury him. He can't even be with mum,"

Harry hesitantly reached out and put his hand others, "I know, but we'll make sure he didn't die for nothing. We have to,"

Finally, Lydia turned to face her brother. He quickly looked away at first but then seemed to force himself to look up at her. Lydia felt her heart break a little more when he did that, but she pushed through it.

"I need to ask you something and you need to be honest with me," Lydia said earnestly, "Completely honest with me, no matter what the answer is,"

"Right. Of course,"

"Do you think that I'm a bad person?"

"No," he said, answering quicker than Lydia had thought he would, "No. I don't. You saw dad die and you acted upon it. No one can fault you for that,"

"I'm no better than Him. I killed someone without thinking about it. How is that any different to what He does?" Lydia asked.

Harry sighed, "I don't know, Lyds. But...you're not killing innocent people, are you?" he smiled at her, "I know you're not a bad person. So do Ron and Hermione and George. Dad didn't think you were a bad person,"

"He probably would now,"

"No, he wouldn't," Harry said, firmly. "We're fighting a war, Lyds. The rules are different,"

After that, Harry caught her up with everything that he had been speaking about with Mr Ollivander and Griphook. The entire conversation gave Lydia a headache that was only made worse by Harry then announcing that they would have to break into the Lestrange's vault to get the real Sword of Gryffindor.

"We have a plan, anyway," Harry said, confidently, "Hermione can transform in Bellatrix with Polyjuice Potion and then Griphook will come with us,"

"You really simplified that,"

"I know. We just have a slight problem,"

"On top of all the other problems we have?"

"Griphook wants the sword,"

"No," Lydia said, "he cant! We need it!"

"I know," Harry sighed, "We'll just have to double cross him somehow,"

"Oh, brilliant, that will go exactly as-"

"I want Draco to come with us,"

Lydia stared at him, "Really? I don't think that's such a good idea,"

"Are there any good ideas anymore?"

Even Lydia could not argue with that.

They were eating dinner when Remus came with the news that Teddy Lupin had been born. Overcome with emotion at the thought of a new life in a world like theirs and the fact that Remus was blissfully ignorant at the fact that James was dead, Lydia very quickly excused herself from the table and ran to sit in the garden. It was a blustery evening; the sound of the sea crashing against the shore was as loud as ever and the wind was something violent, but Lydia did not mind. She could not bare to be anywhere near Remus.

Through the sound of the wind, Lydia did not hear footsteps behind her and jumped when Remus sat down next to her. His prematurely lined face suddenly looked Oder and his eyes were swimming with tears. They did not speak straight away. Lydia found his presence rather comforting. If she pretended hard enough, she was easily back in her third year at Hogwarts sat in his office.

"I want you to be Godmother," Remus said.

"M-me?" Lydia stammered.

"You," Remus confirmed, "If Teddy cannot have James and Lily watching over him, the least he can have is you and Harry,"

"I don't think I'll be very good,"

"That's exactly what Sirius said," Remus smiled. He put a hand into his pocket and pulled out a picture, handing it to her. "That's him." Teddy had bright blue hair and was waving his fists at the camera, "Keep it. At least you'll know what he looks like. He's a Metamorphmagus like Tonks,"

Lydia smiled down at the picture and slipped it into her pocket, "I wish dad were here to see him,"

"Don't worry, Teddy will grow up hearing stories about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, I'm sure," Remus said, "and probably about how a twin brother and sister caused their fair share amount of trouble in school as well..."

Lydia laughed and tried not to think about the terrible example that she and Harry were setting for little Teddy Lupin.


	29. Gringotts

**_"Let us be bold._**

 ** _Let us be brave._**

 ** _Let us be together,"_**

 ** _\- Brad Henry_**

After Remus left, stayed in the garden, clutching the picture of her Godson. Is this what Sirius had felt like after James and Lily had asked him to be Godfather? Had he sat alone, thinking about how irresponsible he was? Had he considered the fact that he might not even live to see his God Children's first birthday? Had he thought about the fact should James and Lily die, he would be responsible for a child.

Why Remus had thought that she and Harry would be good Godparents, she had no idea. Neither of them could look after themselves, never mind a baby. Lydia had never even met a baby before. She shuddered at the thought of having to possibly babysit for Remus and Tonks one day.

"He's sweet,"

Lydia turned around as George slowly sat next to her, looking at the picture of Teddy.

"Yeah," Lydia said, "sweet,"

They were silent for a while. Lydia couldn't take her eyes off Teddy. She could never imagine having a child of her own, not when the world was the way it was...

Lydia snorted, "Poor kid. Imagine being brought up by a Marauder and Nymphadora Tonks and having me as Harry as your Godparents,"

"In a different world, you would have been brought up by all four Marauders. Imagine that," George said quietly.

Lydia smiled. Poor Professor McGonagall would probably have retired before having to teach two children who had been exposed to the Marauders for birth. She wondered how much more trouble she and Harry would have gotten in and whether the castle would still be standing.

"George, do you think I'm evil?" Lydia asked before she could stop herself.

"Come again?"

"It's just - I don't know. When we were on the run, we overheard Dirk Cresswell and Ted Tonks speaking and...it's stupid, but he was talking about dad dying and the..you know, that Death Eater," Lydia glanced over at him. He looked awkward. They had never actually spoken about anything that had happened after James had been killed, "and he said he thinks there's something up with me,"

"I think there's something up with you,"

"What?"

"Full disclosure, I think it's really weird that when you sleep, you hog the whole bed. Like, I just don't understand how someone so small can take up so much room. You know you've kicked me out of bed on three separate occasions?" George said, "Also, sticking your wand in your bun? So strange. I had to hex so many people in school because they kept on pointing out that it just messed your hair up even more. And I'm only saying this because I love you, they made a very good point,"

"George, I'm being serious-"

"So am I! You're really strange,"

"George," Lydia said.

He smiled at her. "I don't think you're evil, Lyds. You've just had a bit of a shit life and so you've been put in situations that the rest of us never have been,"

"Yeah but that Snatcher-"

"-had just killed your dad," George said firmly, "He would have done worse to you,"

"I don't know about that," Lydia said.

"Lyds, if you were evil, I'm sure Dumbledore would have cottoned onto it and done something about it," George said.

"Snape-"

"Was working for You-Know-Who, he had a lot of protection. You're not working for You-Know-Who, are you?" George asked, "Are you? Because if you are, it is a deal breaker,"

Lydia laughed and rolled her eyes, "I'm obviously not working for You-Know-Who,"

"Just making sure,"

They next morning, Lydia, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Griphook woke up earlier than anyone else. Ron told Bill and Fleur to not see them off and they grudgingly obliged. When Harry nudged her awake, she turned over to see George awake, which would only make this entire thing worse.

"Are you going to do something stupid today?" He asked quietly.

"No," she said, "We're going to go and do something really stupid today,"

"Brilliant," he muttered.

She kissed him quickly, "go back to sleep,"

In the kitchen, Hermione and Harry were stood on opposite sides of the kitchen, glaring at each other. It was half past four in the morning and the last thing that Lydia wanted was to have to break up an argument between Harry and Hermione. Draco was stood eating a bowl of cereal, very much looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him.

"He would help, Hermione!" Harry said earnestly.

"He would bring unwanted attention," Hermione said exasperatedly.

"I bring unwanted attention," Harry pointed out, "Namely the attention of the Dark Lord,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to look at Lydia, "What do you think? Should we bring him?"

"Harry? Definitely not, he's annoying," she said lightly.

"Lydia..." Hermione said, smiling lightly, "I mean Malfoy,"

"You both make good points," Lydia said carefully, "He would probably bring unwanted attention but at this point, all of us do. But, he's also a powerful wizard. We need all the help we can get,"

At this point, Ron walked into the kitchen and glared at Draco.

"Did Hermione react in the way I said she would?" Ron asked Harry who just nodded.

Ron sighed, "Told you, mate, it's a bad idea,"

"I think we should take him," Lydia said, "We can just disguise him like we are with Ron. There's only enough Polyjuice Potion left for me and you, isn't there?"

Hermione nodded, "Fine,"

"If it wasn't so early in the morning, I'd argue with you," Ron said.

They left the house very quickly, careful not to wake Dean and Luna up. Hermione was already wearing Bellatrix's robes and looked very odd in them. She handed Lydia a goblet of Polyjuice Potion, containing the hair of a muggle that Hermione found. It turned a light pink colour but still somehow managed to look very unappetising.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Polyjuice Potion?" Lydia asked.

"Five times this morning," Hermione said, "drink up," she turned to Ron and began to move her wand over his face, muttering spells underneath her breath. His nose grew larger and his eyebrows bushier. His freckles dissolved into nothingness to be replaced with three long scars. Lydia thought he looked like Bill until Hermione waved her wand again and his hair turned from its usual red to as dark as Harry and Lydia's.

"How do I look?" Ron asked, turning to Harry.

"Not my type, but you'll do," Harry said.

Ron looked mildly offended, "What do you mean I'm not your type?"

"Not now, Ron," Lydia sighed.

"Do I look like your type?"

He looked so hurt that Lydia felt obliged to say that he was. Hermione beckoned Draco over to her and began to transform his face. By the time she was finished, Lydia was unable to recognise him. His hair was light brown and fell to his shoulders. His skin had some colour to it and his face was a lot fuller than usual.

"If you say he's your type, I'm never speaking to you again," Ron muttered to Harry.

"That only makes me want to say he's my type more," Harry said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two of them and took the other goblet of Polyjuice Potion and quickly drank it, a disgusted look on her face. Seconds later, Bellatrix Lestrange was stood before them, and, had she not known it was Hermione, Lydia's first instinct would have been to hex her.

"How do I look?" Hermione asked in Bellatrix's voice.

"Terrible," Lydia said, "but in the best way,"

Griphook walked over to them, "let's get this over and done with, then,"

Harry bent down and allowed Griphook to climb onto his back. Lydia threw the Invisibility Cloak over them and walked around them, making sure that she could see them. When she was sure that no feet could be seen, they joined hands and Apparated to outside of the Leaky Cauldron.

Inside, the pub was nearly deserted. The landlord, Tom, stood behind the bar, cleaning glasses. A group of people having a whispered conversation in the corner of the room took one look at Hermione and retreated back into the shadows, and out of sight. Lydia kept her head down, worried that people would somehow recognise her through he disguise.

"Madam Lestrange," murmured Tom, bowing his head slightly as Hermione walked past.

"Good morning," said Hermione and as she did so, Lydia saw Tom give her a funny look.

"You're being too nice," Lydia whispered in Hermione's ear, "she'd never say that,"

"OK, OK!" Hermione said.

Out in the tiny backyard, Hermione took out Bellatrix's wand and tapped a brick on the wall. At once, it began to spin and whirl, opening an entrance into Diagon Alley. It was quiet. The shops were not due to open for hours and there was barely anyone about. Anyone who was, hurried past them, their heads bent low. It looked completely different to the Diagon Alley that Lydia had once known and loved.

Automatically, Lydia turned her head in the direction of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The once vibrant shop was now deserted and colourless, and looked as though it had wilted along with the shops around it. She turned away from it and followed Hermione up the narrow, cobbled street, peering into streets as she did. Most shops were now dedicated to the Dark Arts and posters of her and Harry glared down at them as she passed, with the occasional pictures of Ron and Hermione.

A number of ragged people sat huddled in doorways, insisting that they were really wizards and asking for gold. It took everything in Lydia to not try and help them. When they saw Hermione, however, they seemed to melt into the darkness of the doorways; drawing hoods over their faces or turning their back on her completely. Lydia had never quite understood the power that Bellatrix Lestrange had over people until now.

One man suddenly launched himself at Hermione, "MY CHILDREN!" He bellowed, "WHERE ARE THEY? YOU KNOW! YOU KNOW!"

"I-I," Hermione stammered.

The man lunged at her, his hands outstretched and going for her throat but there was a bang and a burst of red light and he was thrown backwards onto the ground, unconscious. Lydia spun around to see Draco stood there, his wand outstretched with a look of shock on his face as he stared at the man on the ground.

"Thank-you," Hermione said timidly, massaging her neck.

"Let's keep going," Lydia said.

Their entrance into Diagon Alley could not have been more conspicuous if they tried. Lydia was just moments away from suggesting that they leave and come back another day with a different plan, but before she could talk to anyone, someone cried out from behind them.

"Why, Madam Lestrange!"

Lydia whirled around. A tall, thin wizard was striding towards them. The sleeves of his robes slipped down slightly, revealing a Dark Mark burned there. Lydia tried to disguise the fear that was on her face and looked away from him.

"Travers," Draco breathed in her ear.

Pretending to cough, Lydia leaned over to Hermione and whispered his name in her ear.

"Travers," Hermione said, her voice shaking slightly, "how are you?"

"Well, I confess I am surprised to see you out and about, Bellatrix,"

"Really? Why?" Hermione asked.

"Well," Travers looked awkward for a moment, "I did hear at the inhabitants of Malfoy Manor where confined to the house after the escape of the Potter's and your nephews betrayal,"

Hermione drew herself up to her fullest height and said, in a way that was very reminiscent of the real Bellatrix, "The Dark Lord forgives those who have served him most faithful in the past. Perhaps your credit is not as good with him as mine is, Travers,"

Though the Death Eater looked offended, he did look less suspicious and Lydia willed herself to calm down. He glanced over at Lydia, Ron and Draco, frowning slightly.

"Forgive me, but I do not recognise these three,"

"This is Dragomir Despard," Hermione said, indicating Ron, "Alexandre Clermont-"

"Bonjour," Draco said in a fantastic French accent that actually made Lydia raise her eyebrows at him.

"-and Amalia Tewksbury," she pointed at Lydia who nodded quickly, "they're foreign wizards but very sympathetic with the Dark Lord's regime,"

They had decided on fake identities before they left, and it was only now that Hermione had said them out loud to another person that Lydia realised how terrible they really were.

Travers, however, did not seem to pick up on this and turned back to Hermione, "So, what brings you and your, ah, sympathetic friends to Diagon Alley this morning?"

"Gringotts," Hermione replied.

"Why, me too!" Travers exclaimed and Hermione had no choice but to fall into step with him.

Lydia, Draco and Ron followed behind and she could only assume that Harry and Griphook was behind them. They slowly walked up the steps of Gringotts Bank. Two wizards stood on either side of the door, holding what Lydia recognised to be Probity Probes. She smiled at the memory of Mr Filch once prodding George so hard with one, that he woke up the next day with a bruise on his arm.

Behind her, Lydia heard Harry murmur, " _Confundo_ ," twice.

Unnoticed by Travers, he carried onto into Gringotts and Hermione, her long black hair rippling in the breeze behind her, followed him. She was almost through the doors when one one of the Wizards stopped her.

"One moment, Madam," he said, walking towards her and raising his Probe.

"But you've just done that!" Hermione said indignantly.

"You checked them all, Marius," the other one said in a slightly dazed voice.

Hermione swept past them with Ron at her side and Lydia and Draco rushed up the steps. Lydia chanced a glance behind her and looked at the two wizards, they both still looked very confused and were scratching their heads.

As though Hagrid was stood next to her, Lydia heard his voice loud and clear as she walked over the threshold of the bank, "Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it,". And there was no doubt about it, they were all completely mad. If eleven year old Lydia had known that at the age of seventeen, she would come back with Harry, two unlikely friends and someone she had grown to hate at school to rob it...well, she wouldn't even know how she would react to it for she couldn't quite react to it now.

Hermione allowed Travers to step in front of her under the pretext of explaining the features of the hall to Lydia, Ron and Draco. And then, she stepped forward to a goblin and cleared her throat.

"M-Madam Lestrange!" He said, obviously startled, "Dear me! How may I help you today?"

"I wish to enter my vault," said Hermione.

The goblin seemed to recoil a little. Lydia glanced around the vast hall and seemed that most goblins had stopped working to look at them. It suddenly occurred to Lydia that what Draco had done might have been common knowledge amongst everyone, and not just the Death Eaters.

"You have...identification?" The goblin asked.

"Identification? I have never been asked for identification before!" Hermione said.

"Your wand, will do," the goblin said.

They knew. Voldemort must have informed the Gringotts goblins that an imposter might try and break into Gringotts and that Bellatrix no longer had her wand. If Hermione handed her wand over now, it would be game over for them...and Lydia could do nothing but watch as Hermione, hand shaking slightly, handed the wand over.

"Ah," the Goblin said, "yes, I see you have had a new wand made!"

"A new wand?" Travers asked, striding over to them, "But how could you have done? Which wand maker did you use?"

Lydia felt something brush against her and she was sure it was Harry hurrying over to Travers. He seemed to freeze for a moment and then a look of calmness spread over his face and he began to nod serenely.

"Yes, I see," he said, looking down at the wand, "yes, very handsome. And is it working well? I always think wands require a little breaking in, don't you?"

Hermione looked shocked but managed to go along with it. Lydia noticed the effects of the Imperius Curse and was mentally praising Harry for his quick thinking. If that had been Lydia under the cloak, she probably would have just cursed everyone and made the entire situation ten times worse.

Amazingly, everything went to plan and the goblin slid smartly off his chair and lead them into the rough stone passageways that lead to the vaults. When the door closed with a bang behind them, Harry whipped off the Invisibility Cloak. Neither the goblin nor Travers seemed surprised to see Harry Potter suddenly in their midst, and Lydia thought that Harry had done quite a good job with the Imperius Curse.

"They're imperiused," Harry quickly explained to Ron and Hermione who looked confused, "I don't know if I did it strong enough though. I kind of panicked,"

"We're in trouble, though," Lydia said, "they suspect something's going on,"

"What do we do?" Ron asked, 'get out whilst we can and think of a better plan?"

"We've gotten this far," Harry said, "I reckon we might as well get going. Also, we have no idea what's happening out there," he nodded towards the rest of the bank.

"He's right," Draco said quietly, "There's no point in giving up now,"

"Good!" said Griphook, making Lydia jump. She had forgotten that he was there, "We need Bogrod to control the cart. I no longer have the authority to do so...but there will be no room for the wizard,"

Harry pointed his wand at Travers, " _Imperio_!" He turned and set off along the dark track at a fast pace.

"What'd you make him do?" Ron asked.

"Hide," said Harry. He pointed his wand at Bogrod. The goblin whistled and a little cart came trundling along the tracks towards them.

They piled in quickly. Lydia was sure that she could hear shouting behind them in the rest of the bank but it did not matter as the cart took off at once and Lydia could no longer hear anything over the sounds of the cart rattling on the track. The more Lydia thought about the plan, the more stupid it seemed. They could have just pretended to go to another vault and then had the goblin take them to Bellatrix's...

It was too late to go back now, though as they were deeper into Gringotts than Lydia had ever been. She heard the sounds of rushing water just ahead of her and looked up to see a waterfall pounding over the tracks. "NO!" Griphook shouted, but it was too late.

As the water poured over them, she felt the cart lurch forward and her body suddenly became weightless as she was thrown the air, vaguely aware of the others flying besides her. Closing her eyes before the impact, Lydia heard Hermione shriek something and suddenly, she felt herself fall slowly to the ground and landed painlessly on the floor.

"C-Cushioning Charm," Hermione spluttered, "I remembered Dumbledore using it on Harry after that Quidditch Match in third year..."

Draco helped Lydia to her feet and she shrieked when she looked at his face for he looked like himself again. She spun around and saw that both Hermione and Ron's disguises had gone away, and assumed that she no longer looked like Amalia Tewksbury.

"The Thief's Downfall!" Griphook said, clambering to his feet, "it washes away all enchantments and magical concealments. They know something is happening and have set all defences against us,"

Harry turned round to Bogrod and quickly pointed his wand at him, "Imperio!"

"This was a terrible plan. Can I say that?" Lydia asked, looking around at them all.

"Yes, well, we're here now," Harry muttered. He looked up suddenly and Lydia knew why, she could hear the sounds of footsteps running over to them.

Before anyone could do anything, Draco had stepped forward and pointed his wand upwards, "Protego!" He turned around and looked at their shocked faces, "They won't be able to get to us,"

"Good thinking," Hermione said, looking genuinely shocked, "How far now, Griphook?"

"Not far now, not far now..." Griphook said, "this way,"

They turned a corner and saw something that Lydia knew would be there, it still was not prepared for. The dragon lay curled up on the ground, protecting four or five of the deepest and oldest vaults in the bank. It's scales had turned pale from the lack of sunlight and its eyes were milky and pink. It was chained to the ground by its rear legs, both of which were bleeding a raw.

Lydia's immediate reaction was to draw her wand on it, but the closer she looked at it, the more depressing it became. Great beasts like this weren't meant to be held up underground.

"It's partially blind," said Griphook, "but even more savage for that. We have learned how to control it though," he pointed at a bag close to Ron, "hand them out. They're called Clankers. The dragon is trained to expect pain when he hears them,"

"That's awful," Hermione said, but Griphook either did not hear or did not care about the dragon enough to answer. He began to shake the Clanker and the Dragon immediately began to cower under his wings.

"Quick," Griphook said, pointing at one of the vaults, "Get Bogrod to put his hand on the door of the vault, that will open it,"

Harry turned his wand on Griphook and they hurried forward. The Lestrange vault was bigger than any that Lydia had ever been in before. It was stacked high with gold and silver that glinted in the light of the lanterns that hung from the ceiling. She suddenly felt very overwhelmed looking at it all and wondered if destroying everything was their best bet.

"Remember, it's the Cup we need to find. It has Hufflepuffs symbol on it," Harry said quickly, looking around, "it's here...it must be...,"

The five of them stood in the room, looking around. The more Lydia looked, the more everything seemed to blend together. After a few minutes, it was just like one giant ball of gold and silver.

"There!" Draco cried, pointing into the top corner of the vault.

Lydia turned around too quickly and accidentally touched a goblet next to her. "Ouch!" Her hand began to burn and from the goblet, more identical copies of it appeared, "what's going on?"

"Don't touch anything!" Hermione said quickly, but just as she said it, Ron touched a silver plate and that too multiplied.

"Shit!" He exclaimed, staring down at his hand, "ah, Merlin!"

"How are we going to get it without touching anything?" Harry asked, desperately looking around.

"The - ouch! - the sword!" Lydia yelled. A rush of silver plates and caused Draco to fall into an entire shelf of gold and they all came crashing down onto her, "Harry, hurry!" She yelled, as she felt her skin begin to blister.

" _Levicorpus_!" Hermione said, pointing to Harry.

Hoisted into the air by his ankle, Harry took the sword of Hermione and put it through the handle of the cup, picking it up. Thankfully, it did not multiply.

" _Liberacorpus_!" Harry said, and he fell back to the floor again, the sword dropping out of his hand. He jumped to his feet, burns on his face, and spun around, "the sword! Where is it? It has the cup on it!"

Griphook saw it before they did and lunged towards it. Evidently, he had not trusted them to give the sword to him when they had gotten out of here. He grabbed it, and as he did so, the cup was flung through the air. Lydia dived forward and caught it in her hand, screaming as it multiplied and began to burn her skin.

Ron's hand closed around her arm and pulled her up. Griphook was already out of the vault and, clutching the sword to his chest, he ran through the chamber outside screaming, "Thieves! Thieves! Help! Help!"

"Come on!" Draco called to them, "their going to be here soon!"

Now waist deep in burning hot treasure, they fought through it, desperate to get to the door. Lydia held the cup over her head, terrified of losing it in the vault. Finally, with one final push, Lydia fell out of the vault and onto the hard, cold floor outside. But her relief at feeling something cold was temporary as a horde of goblins made their way over to them.

Draco was the first out of them all to get back up, " _Stupefy_!" As quickly as possible, Lydia, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined in, sending stunning spells into the crowd of goblins. Wizard guards seemed to appear out of nowhere and sent stunning spells straight back and Lydia could see no way out of this. She glanced to the side of her and watched as Draco sent stunning spell after stunning spell at the crowd advancing on them. She never would have thought that she would have died with Draco Malfoy at her side.

"DOWN!" Ron yelled, kicking her to the ground as the dragon let out an almighty roar and bellowed fire over their heads

"We don't have to die!" Lydia yelled, suddenly coming to a realisation.

"What?" Draco said.

"We don't have to die!" she repeated, "come on! Follow me!"

She grabbed Hermione and pushed her up off the ground, beckoning for the boys to follow her. It was probably the most ridiculous idea that she had ever come up, and was definitely a sign of complete madness, but there was no other way out. Hiding behind the dragon who had not realised they were there, she pointed her wand at the cuffs that bound it to the ground.

" _Relashio_!" The cuffs broke with a loud bang and Harry was the first to realise what she was doing.

"Brilliant!" He yelled at her, "absolutely brilliant!"

"Lydia, what are you-?" Hermione called.

"Get up! Come on!" She yelled, shoving Draco and Ron towards the dragon, "ON! NOW!"

They clambered onto the dragon quickly and seconds later, it realised that it was untethered. It gave a great roar and then reared, stretching it's great wings and taking flight. It clawed away at the ceiling, but it wasn't getting very far. Already, the remaining guards and goblins on the first were pulling themselves back together and shooting spells at them.

" _Defodio_!" Hermione yelled, "come on! It's a gouging spell! Quick!"

The others quickly joined in and within minutes, they had carved a passageway big enough for the dragon. It gave another great roar and flew upwards, perhaps able to smell the freedom it had so longed for. And, at last, by the force of the dragons strength and their combined spells, they had made it into the marble hallway, scattering the goblins and wizards that were still there.

Lydia clung onto Hermione as the dragon forced itself out of the metal doors and into the sky above Diagon Alley. In front of her, she could hear Hermione quietly sobbing and she suddenly remembered that Hermione had a massive fear of flying. Behind her, Ron was swearing over and over again and there might have been a few times when he threatened to kill Lydia for making them do this.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the dragon dipped suddenly and Lydia looked over the edge of it. They were flying over water and Harry seemed to be on the same wavelength as her.

"JUMP!" Harry yelled.

"What?" Hermione yelled back but he had already gone over the sid of the dragon and splashed into the water below.

Knowing Hermione would rather stay on the dragon for the rest of her life than jump from such a height, Lydia grabbed her around the middle and ignoring her cries of protest, Lydia dragged her off the dragon with her and they splashed into the water. Her robes weighing her down for a moment, Lydia thrashed around and kicked her legs, breaking the surface and looking around for the others. She did a quick headcount and was thankful to see that everyone was still with them.

They swam to the edge of the water and

staggered out of the water, coughing and spluttering. Ron took one look at them and burst into laughter. It took a moment, but then they were suddenly all laughing, tears streaming down their faces.

"We just broke out of Gringotts," Ron gasped, clutching his side, "on a dragon!" He turned to Malfoy and clapped him on the back, "we might not be best mates, but you just helped us a lot so...thanks,"

Draco looked shocked but was spared from answering from Harry crying out in pain. Lydia rushed over to him and stopped him from falling over.

"What is it? Harry, what's going on?" Lydia asked, "Harry!"

"He knows," he said, "he knows we're looking for the Horcruxes. Ones the snake and the other is at Hogwarts,"

"I'm guessing we're going back to school then," Lydia said.


	30. It Begins

**_"Tomorrow, the birds will sing. Be brave. Face life."_**

 ** _\- Charlie Chaplin_**

Hermione was dead set against going back to Hogwarts, but the more Lydia thought about it, the more she realised that there was no way they couldn't not go back. If Voldemort knew that they were looking for Horcruxes, then his first move was to probably move the Horcrux from Hogwarts to an even more secure place. And, of course, there was the snake. Voldemort never went anywhere without the snake and the best way to get to Nagini, would be to go wherever Voldemort did.

When Lydia pointed this out to Hermione, she nodded and Lydia knew that she was convinced. They quickly changed out of their sopping wet clothes and huddled together, getting ready to Apparate until Harry stopped them.

"Wait! Put this on!" He held the Invisibility Cloak out to them and through a mixture of panic and annoyance, Lydia almost hit it out of his hand.

"Harry, we could barely fit under it in first year! And now there's five of us and-"

"It's dark, no one will see our feet!"

Lydia wanted to point out that someone like Voldemort would definitely be able to see their feet but decided against it. The five of them huddled together and Harry threw the cloak over them. Even with the tallest of them (Ron and Draco) bending down, their feet could still be seen. They turned on the spot and Lydia's feet found the pavement in the village of Hogsmeade.

She barely had time to appreciate the fact that she was in one of her favourite places in the world when a loud shrieking noise rent the silence. At once, Hermione dragged them down a tiny alley near the Hogg's Head Inn and they ran down to the very bottom, crouching in the darkness.

"Caterwauling Charm," Draco whispered, "they knew we were coming,"

"Let's go now," Hermione said, "and come back another-"

She was cut off by the sound of running footsteps and Lydia was sure that they had been found. At the top of the alley, she could see a Death Eater with their back to them, looking around.

"Potter!" He yelled, "we know you're here!"

"The cloak!" Another yelled, "they might be under the cloak!"

"Accio Cloak!"

Immediately Lydia grabbed the bottom of the cloak and Harry did the same, but it did not move. Next to her, Ron let out a sigh of relief that Lydia felt might have come too soon.

"Not under your wrapper, then? We could always call the Dementors!"

"The Dark Lord wants them alive-"

"And a Dementors won't kill them! They'll make 'em easier to kill if anything!"

Their footsteps died away and Lydia turned round to the others. If the Dementors came, there was no hiding from them. They could see through Invisibility Cloaks and if Harry or Lydia cast a Patronus, then that would give them away quicker than if they showed their face. Ron and Hermione's were also too well known at this point.

Lydia quickly turned to Draco.

"Can you cast a Patronus?"

He suddenly looked very awkward, "um, no, I-"

"Just think of a happy memory!" Harry urged.

Draco shook his head, "I - I cannot. There is no memory strong enough,"

An awkward silence followed this and it took Hermione exclaiming, "let's go now!" to break it. Not that it mattered, anyway, a chill fell over Lydia and she knew that they would not be able to get away. Everyone fell deathly silent and Lydia held her breath, as though to protect her soul, as the Dementors neared. Echoes of George screaming in pain took over her mind, mingled with the sounds of her mother's dying words.

"Fuck it," Harry muttered, "Expecto Patronum!"

A stag burst from the end of his wand and cantered down the alley. Lydia suddenly felt as though she had sank into a warm bath as the sounds of her worst memories died away in her mind. She heard the Death Eaters yell in triumph and their footsteps nearing.

"Well, this was fun whilst it lasted," Draco said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Do you really want your dying words to be something sarcastic?" Lydia asked.

"Yes,"

"A man after my own heart," she sighed, pulling herself off the floor and drawing her wand.

'I'm gay,"

"Malfoy, I swear I will kill you before-"

A door that Lydia had never noticed until then suddenly burst open next to them. She whirled around, her wand aimed at the face of Albus Dumbledore. Only it wasn't Albus Dumbledore. His hair and beard weren't as long and there was no twinkle in his dull blue eyes. He slowly looked down at her wand, muttered something underneath his breath and then grabbed her arm, pulling her inside.

"Get in, all of you!" He snapped, "go upstairs. Don't make any noise,"

None of them needed telling twice, they hurried into the Hogg's Head and took the stairs two steps at a time. Out of curiosity, Lydia paused at the top of the stairs and crouched down, trying to see what was going on. The man was still stood at the door, staring down one of the Death Eaters.

"The Potter's are in there!" The Death Eater yelled, "or at least the boy is! I saw his Patronus-"

"You did not see Harry Potter's Patronus, you idiot!" The man yelled back, "that was my Patronus! A goat! Expecto Patronum!" A goat burst from the end of his wand and ran down the street.

"Well - well," the Death Eater spluttered,

"someone set the Caterwauling Charm off-"

"Also me," he snapped, "or am I not allowed to put my cat out anymore! I do hope you didn't call the Dark Lord on my cat!" And he slammed the door in his face, storming up the stairs and shaking his head.

Lydia retreated immediately and went to the join the others, all of whom were ashen-faced. The man stared at them for a moment, and Lydia could not believe how much he looked like Dumbledore. The man paused for a moment longer on Draco and then turned his back on them.

"Food," he muttered and then he walked away again.

"Has anyone noticed how he looks like-" Lydia began.

"Dumbledore," Draco finished, "yeah."

They were silent until he came back with food, dropping it on the table with a clang. Ron, Hermione and Draco walked towards the food straight away, but Lydia and Harry stayed stood where they were, both regarding the man with mistrust. Then, Harry yelled out and pointed at something on the wall.

"That's the other mirror!" he shouted, "you've been watching us!"

The man looked at Harry and nodded. He turned to Lydia, "you asked me for help. That's how Dobby and your father found you. The two of you amused me with your talk about how I might have been my brother,"

"Oh," Lydia said softly. Then she frowned, "y-your brother?"

"Your Aberforth Dumbledore, aren't you? His brother?" Harry said.

"Goat man!" Lydia exclaimed before she could stop herself, "sorry," she added in a whisper, "it's just...you know, the...never mind,"

Aberforth regarded her for a moment and she thought she might have seen a hint of a smile. Finally, he nodded.

"Albus was my brother, yes," he said, "though, I don't know if he saw me the same way," his voice suddenly turned sharp, "what are you lot thinking being back here, anyway? Do you have a death wish? There's Death Eaters everywhere!"

"We have something to do," Harry said, "something your brother told us about-"

"Oh, he did, did he? And is it a fun task? The kind you'd want to do?" He said scathingly, "your best bet is to leave the country. Get as far away from here as you. Live for as long as possible,"

"No," Lydia said, "that's not an option-"

"Your seventeen. Live the rest of your life whilst you still can,"

"We can't live whilst You-Know-Who does. We have to kill him," Lydia said defiantly, "We need to get into Hogwarts. Tonight,"

Aberforth laughed slightly, "Yes, my brother did tell me about you on the rare occasion he came to the pub. He mentioned how headstrong you are. Killing the Dark Lord isn't a job for you. It isn't a job for anyone,"

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him.

"That sounds like someone who's lost hope," Harry said quietly.

"Anyone with a brain knows that there's no way out of this. This is life now and-"

"What about the Order?" Hermione asked.

"The Order doesn't exist anymore. He's won! And you know it!"

"He hasn't won," Draco said, "he hasn't won till these two-" he jerked his head at Lydia and Harry, "are dead. And they still look pretty alive to me,"

"I thought you were a Death Eater, boy," Aberforth said gruffly.

"I thought you would be as brave as your brother," Draco shrugged.

That seemed to have done something to him. At first, Lydia thought that Aberforth was going to try and curse Draco, but instead he turned to face the fireplace. For a moment, Lydia thought that he was talking to himself, but then she noticed that he was talking to the portrait on the wall. It was of a young girl. There was something familiar about the glint in her eyes.

"You know what to do," Aberforth said quietly.

Instead of sliding sideways out of the frame like most subjects of magical portraits, the girl nodded and walked away from them. Her figure getting smaller and smaller until she could no longer be seen. Lydia frowned at the picture, frowning at it.

"That was your sister, wasn't it Mr Dumbledore?" Hermione said in a low voice, "Ariana?"

Aberforth turned to face, "you've been reading Rita Skeeter, have you, girl?"

"Dumbledore told us about her," Harry said quickly.

"Yeah, but he never gave a damn about her. He never gave a damn about anyone but himself,"

Harry opened his mouth to retaliate but Lydia hit him in the arm and pointed at the portrait for something strange was happening. Ariana Dumbledore was walking back to them, but she was not alone. Another figure was stood next to her, though they seemed to be limping slightly. Lydia moved closer to the portrait, her brows furrowed. She recognised the person next to Ariana, but could not quite put her finger on it, but before she could get a proper look, the portrait swung open revealing-

"Neville!" Harry exclaimed, "what are you-"

"Alright?" he asked. He looked over them all, "you all look terrible," he clambered down from the mantelpiece and nodded at Aberforth.

"You don't look too good yourself," Lydia said, running forward and hugging him.

His right eye was puffy and gave off the impression of a black eye that had been unable to heal. Blood poured from a cut in his lip and his nose seemed to be broken. His hair was overgrown and his robes were ripped and yet he still looked the happiest that Lydia had ever seen him. He hugged Harry, Ron and Hermione and then froze when he saw Draco. round to Lydia.

"I heard you'd come to the other side" he grinned.

"You've missed out on a lot," Ron said, "but he's alright. He's not a Death Eater anymore,"

"He saved my life, Neville," Lydia said quietly, "all of our lives, actually. He turned his back on his family for us,"

"I'm sorry for being such a prat," Draco said, "I know it doesn't change anything and I know me being here probably doesn't help, but I want to do better,"

Neville shook his hand, still grinning, "I knew it! I knew you'd come, this way-" he helped Hermione up onto the mantelpiece, Ron and Draco followed, "Oh, by the way, Ab," he added as he helped Lydia clamber through the portrait, "a few more people might be coming,"

"A few more people?" Aberforth asked furiously, "there's a bloody Caterwauling Charm-"

"I know, that's why they'll be apparating directly into the bar," Neville said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "When they get here, send them down the passageway, will you?"

Lydia looked around, confused. They were a passageway with smooth stone steps that looked as though they had been there years and their path was lit by brass lamps that glowed brightly.

"Potter," Aberforth called to them before the portrait swung shut behind them, "take this other mirror. You two might need it,"

Harry took it, "Thank-you. You've saved our lives twice, I don't know how to-"

"Look after 'em. I might not be around to save them a third time,"

"How long has this been here then?" Ron asked, "it's not on the Marauders Map, is it? I thought there were only seven passageways in and out of school,"

"There is, but they got sealed up at the start of the school year," Neville said, "There's no chance of getting out of them now, there's always loads of Dementors and Death Eaters at the other side," he rolled his eyes as if this was only a mild annoyance, "Never mind that, is it true? Did you break into Gringotts and escape on a dragon? Everyone is talking about it! Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner,"

"Yeah, it's true," said Harry.

Neville laughed, "Only you lot would be able to get away with that and survive!"

"What's happening with Hogwarts, Nev?" Lydia asked quickly, "We haven't heard anything..."

The smile faded from his face, "It's not really Hogwarts anymore. You wouldn't recognise the place. Do you know about the Carrows?"

"Those Death Eaters that teach here?"

"They do more than teach," said Neville darkly, "they're in charge of all the discipline. They make Umbridge look tame. The other teachers are supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't if they can avoid it,"

"What are the lessons like?" Hermione asked.

"They aren't really lessons. Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defence Against the Dark Arts, though really it's more about learning the Dark Arts, now. We're supposed to use the Cruciatus Curse on people who've earned detentions,"

"Merlin!" Lydia exclaimed.

"Yeah," Neville said, "Alecto, his sister, teaches Muggle Studies which is now compulsory. We've got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, that sort of thing," he shook his head and sighed, "I got this," he indicated a slash on his face, "for asking how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got,"

"Blimey, Neville. There's a time and a place for getting a smart mouth," Ron said, though Lydia thought that he sounded quite proud.

"You didn't heard her," said Neville, "None of you would have stood for it either. Thing is though, it's good when we stand up, because it gives other people hope. I used to notice that when Lydia and Harry did, especially in fifth year,"

"Yeah, but Umbridge didn't use us as a knife sharpener, did she?" Lydia said.

Neville shrugged, "Doesn't really matter, does it? It's like you said in fifth year, Lydia, sometimes you've gotta do what you gotta do,"

"I think I said that in reference to cursing Zacharias Smith for the fun of it..."

"They don't want to spill too much pure blood anyway," Neville said flippantly, "so they won't kill us,"

Lydia didn't know what was worse, the things that Neville was telling them about her beloved Hogwarts, or the casual way in which he was talking about it.

"We've been doing bits and pieces for Dumbledore's Army, too," Neville continued, "though that got a bit harder after we lost Luna and Ginny. Oh, by the way," Neville added to Hermione, "those DA Galleons still work a treat! Luna was able to tell us that she was OK through them,"

"Wait, you were holding DA lessons?" Harry asked, amazed.

"Oh, no," Neville said, "Even we couldn't do that, but we snuck out at night and wrote stuff on the walls. You know, Dumbledore's Army, still recruiting, " he laughed lightly, "Snape hated it and the Carrows couldn't work out how we were communicating," he sighed, "but we can't do it anymore. Everything is a lot more underground now. Michael Corner got pretty beat up for trying to free some first years from being chained in the dungeons,"

"No way!"

"Yeah," Neville said, as casual as ever, "and then they went for my Gran. Thing was," he turned to face them and Lydia was surprised to see that he was smiling, "they it off a bit more than they could chew with her. I think they thought that because she's a little old witch who lives on her own, they wouldn't have to send anyone powerful. Dawlish is still in St Mungos'," Neville laughed, "she's on the run now, but she sent me a letter. Told me that I'm my parents' son and all that. She also said that they should have known better than to go after the woman who raised Frank and Neville Longbottom," he was positively glowing with pride.

"How come you're not in Azkaban?" Draco asked.

"I think that's where they were going to send me, but I knew it was time to disappear,"

"Wait - aren't we going back to Hogwarts now?" Ron asked confused.

"'Course," said Neville, "You'll see. We're here,"

They turned a corner and there ahead of them was the end of the passageway. Neville pushed the door open, grinning broadly and jumped down. Lydia followed, eager to see what was hidden behind the door.

"Oi, you lot! Look who it is!"

As Lydia, followed by Harry, walked into the room beyond, there were several yells:

"It's Harry and Lydia!"

"Ron!"

"Hermione!"

Lydia had a brief glimpse of colourful hangings and many faces before she and the others were engulfed by hugs. She felt as though she was being congratulated for winning the Quidditch Cup. Eventually, Neville began to calm everyone down and managed to move everyone back from them. Draco stood behind them slightly, not quite meeting anyone's eye.

Finally, Lydia was able to take in her surroundings. They were not in any room that Lydia recognised. Hammocks hung from the ceilings, surrounded by the tapestries of the four houses. Students sat under their houses respective tapestry.

"Is this the Room of Requirement?" Hermione asked, sounding awestruck.

"Yep! Really outdone itself, hasn't it?" Neville said proudly.

Lydia's eyes automatically went to Slytherin's tapestry, expecting to see it absent and yet three people were sat there; Daphne Greengrass, Astoria Greengrass, and Urquhart.

"Daphne!" Lydia exclaimed, running over to her and hugging her, "What're you doing here? I thought Slytherins would be safe-"

"Nah, not this lot," Neville said, "Daphne seemed to have taken up your job of being the disruptive Slytherin,"

"Someone had to do it," Daphne shrugged, "I asked Professor Snape if he was upset that you were a better Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to Dumbledore's Army than he was after I heard Neville talking about it,"

Lydia stared at her open mouthed, "You did what now?"

"I got detention for a month. Nothing too bad though. Slytherin perks," she said, "and then after last year, I told Urquhart to stay in touch in case something like this happened,"

Urquhart nodded and casually said, "Yeah, I got disowned over the summer because I said that you and Harry had a point," he shrugged, "I don't actually think my family knew what point I was referring to but it was amusing for all of thirty seconds and now I'm homeless. But Daphne found me at Christmas and I stayed with her family until I could come here,"

Lydia blinked at him, quite touched. "But I cursed you so much..."

"The Dark Lord has no chance then, does he?" Urquhart grinned. He glanced at Draco, "you stole my thunder, by the way, by leaving your family,"

Draco smiled at him slightly, "sorry about that,"

"Why are you here?" Neville asked.

"We're looking for something," Lydia said quickly.

"What does it look like?" Astoria asked.

"No idea,"

"What is it?"

"Would love to tell you that but I have no idea," Lydia said, "but we'll just get it and then get going-"

"Get going?" Lavender Brown asked. Lydia hadn't noticed that she was there until now, "what, you're going to leave us in this mess?"

"No!" Hermione said quickly, "it'll help in the long run..."

There was a sound behind them and Lydia spun around. The door opened again and more people arrived; Luna and Dean came first, beaming and holding up their DA Galleons. At the sight of Dean, Seamus gave out a roar of delight and threw his arms around his neck, kissing him full on the mouth. Lydia snorted and shook her head, thinking that it was probably about time. Then came Cho Chang who waved at Harry and went to sit next to Michael Corner. Next, came Ginny, Fred and George. Ginny beamed at Harry who looked as though he was staring in the sun. Lydia glanced at Draco, who looked as though someone had just said something terribly offensive. Fred waved at them all and George hurried over to her, kissing her.

"I would avoid Charlie for the next ten years. He heard about the dragon and won't stop talking about it," he grinned, "also, I can't believe you broke into Gringotts without me!"

"George, it's wasn't fun-"

Harry grabbed Lydia's arm and quietly said, "He's on the move,"

"Here?"

He shrugged but Lydia knew they had next to no time left. If they didn't act quickly...

"Neville, stop sending for people! We need to be conspicuous!" Lydia said, punching him in the shoulder.

"No offence, Lydia, but nothing about you is conspicuous,"

She glared at him, "We're not going to fight! Dumbledore left us a job and-"

"We can help!" He said, "We're his army and-"

Lydia's scar suddenly burned white hot.

Voldemort had realised that they had destroyed another Horcrux. Forcing her eyes open despite the fact that she felt like someone was dripping acid onto her forehead, she looked around the room and realised that they could use these people to their advantage.

"We don't need to tell them what we're looking for," she said quietly to Harry, Ron and Hermione, "and if we're looking for something of Ravenclaws, they could could help,"

"Right," Harry said, clapping his hands together and turning to the Ravenclaws, "Do any of you lot know anything about an object that was important to Ravenclaw? Maybe something with her eagle on or something?"

"There's always the lost diadem," Luna said.

Michael Corner rolled his eyes, "but the point of the lost diadem, is that it's lost, Luna,"

"When was it lost?" Lydia asked.

"Centuries ago," Cho said, "Flitwick says that the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself,"

"Why does everything in the Wizarding World have to be so damn confusing," Lydia muttered.

"I know," Ron whispered, "I don't even know what a diadem is,"

Cho jumped up from her seat, "If you want to see what it looks like, there's a statue in our common room. I can take you-"

"Luna can go," Ginny said quickly.

Cho looked slightly crestfallen but did not say anything. Lydia removed herself from the crowd and slowly sank down into one of the beanbags in the Slytherin corner of the room, her head in her hands. The pain in her forehead had now retreated into a dull throb but it didn't make her feel better. It only meant one thing: Voldemort had finally realised what they were doing and was coming for them.

She tugged at her hair, squeezing her eyes shut. They had ran out of time too quickly. There were still two Horcruxes left and Lydia had no idea if they would ever be able to find this diadem, if that was even the Horcrux.

Possibly more important to her, Lydia wanted to focus on getting everyone out of the castle before Voldemort came. He had never shown mercy to anyone and she did not think that he would start with a bunch of school kids who had been nothing but disruptions to Hogwarts since Snape became headmaster. She looked over at Fred, George and Ginny and almost winced, they had been through more than enough on her behalf. Luna and Dean, too. In fact, she thought as she glanced around at the injured faces of her friends, everyone in that very room had gone through more than enough because of her and she wasn't ready for them to go through much more. Maybe even Ron and Hermione still had a chance to get away...

"I think it might end here tonight,"

Lydia looked next to her where Draco had sat, looking over the room.

"Yeah, me too," she glanced at him, "you're not planning on coming out of this alive, are you?"

"I never was," he said simply, he looked over at her, "but neither are you,"

Lydia looked away from him, fiddling with the ring on her finger and watching as George cracked jokes with Fred in attempt to cheer people up. It had been playing on her mind for months, she wondered if he had sensed it too...what if she wasn't meant to come out of this alive? After all, she often felt like the second Potter twin, like the one who was never meant to be. It was her who sat with Slytherin colours on her robes and the ability to speak to snakes. It was her who had been accused of Dark Magic and being the next Dark Lord...and " neither can live whilst the other survives". What if it meant her and Harry?

"To be fair," Lydia said, "I don't ever think I really thought I was meant to survive,"

"We live a depressing life, don't we?" Draco sighed.

"All the best Slytherins do,"

Lydia's scar began to burn again and she almost fell to the floor. Next to her, Draco yelped and gripped his forearm where Lydia knew the Dark Mark was. He had felt it too. Someone had called for Lord Voldemort.

At once, she jumped up and called for everyone to look at her.

"Voldemort is coming," She said. No one moved, "I-I don't know what we're going to do b-but we all need to stay calm and I'll figure something out. Somehow,"

The door opened again and Mr and Mrs Weasley clambered through, followed by Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Remus and Kingsley. Lydia remembered what George had said about Charlie and the dragon and avoided his eye, instead running over to Kingsley.

"He's coming," She said, "any idea on what to do because my first point of call was to just panic,"

"What was your second?" Mr Weasley asked.

"Panic some more," she said, "there's just a lot of panic involved, I won't lie,"

The door opened and Harry ran back down the steps, looking stressed. Panting, he hurried over to them, followed by Luna who was somehow looking as though Voldemort wasn't coming to kill them all.

"Where's Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked.

Lydia looked around, "I didn't even notice they'd gone. I was having a panic attack in the corner,"

"Of course you were. Right, listen to me, they're evacuating the younger kids through here and everyone is meeting in the Great Hall," Harry said quickly, "and then we need to sort this bloody diadem out," he looked over at Draco, "you come with me to the Great Hall now,"

"I'll be with you in a sec," Lydia said, walking over to where the Weasley's were. Remus was talking about Teddy to anyone who would listen.

"He's with Tonks at her mothers-"

The door opened again and Lydia looked over to see who it was, thinking that everyone must have turned up by now but was shocked to see Percy Weasley. His glasses askew and red hair wild.

"A-am I late? I-I only just heard," He stammered, "has it..."

He trailed off as he realised who was in the room with him. Lydia could tell that he had not expected to run into his entire family and was looking everywhere but at them.

"W-well," He said, "I-I suppose now is the best time to say that I'm sorry for...f-for..."

"Being the world's biggest prat?" Fred supplied.

"Yes, that," he said, "I should have known better than to think that you were traitors by standing by Dumbledore and Harry and Lydia," he smiled at Lydia awkwardly, "and I'm s-sorry. I've been trying to get away from the Ministry but it's been so hard,"

Another silence followed this and Lydia forced the wand out of George's hand before he did something stupid. Fleur cleared her throat and then turned back to Remus.

"'Eez Teddy's appearance still changing?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Percy said loudly, turning to his father.

Mr Weasley regarded his son for a moment and then walked forward and hugged him.

"Say no more, son," he said as Mrs Weasley sobbed next to them.

Once he had freed himself from his mother's grip, he turned to Fleur and Bill.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your wedding," He said sheepishly, "but welcome to the family, Fleur..." and then he turned to Lydia and George, who had managed to steal his wand back without Lydia realising, "and I hear that there's going to be another wedding soon?"

"It's a not-quite engagement," George explained, "it's more of a "I would like to be engaged to you but we might die so here's a thing to say if we don't die we will be engaged," arrangement,"

Percy frowned at them, "right..."

Lydia lost track of the conversation for a moment as her scar burned fiercer again. She gripped hold of George's hand, staring at the floor and trying to regulate her breathing. But she could not focus on anything but one very simple fact; it would all end tonight. She looked up at the Weasley's and at the happy face of Remus Lupin who was showing off his dear baby son, wondering how many people she was looking at for the last time.


	31. The Battle of Hogwarts

**_"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."_**

 ** _― G.K. Chesterton_**

"I can't see them anywhere!" Lydia said to George anxiously. They had gone up to the Great Hall expecting to find Ron and Hermione there, but they were still nowhere to be seen.

The Great Hall was full to the brim of students, some looked excited but others looked petrified. Lydia glanced back over to the door and more people spilled in; Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell walked in, followed by Oliver Wood, Kingsley, Remus, Mr and Mrs Weasley and finally Bill, Fleur and Percy. Harry was stood at the front of the hall with McGonagall and Draco, though he didn't speak to be speaking to them and instead looked as though he was muttering to himself.

"You alright?" she asked hurrying over to him.

"Yeah, fine," he muttered.

"...evacuation will be overseen by Mr Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organise your house and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point,"

"What if we want to fight?" called Ernie Macmillan from the Hufflepuff table.

"If you are of age, you may stay," said Professor McGonagall.

"Where's Professor Snape?" a girl called from the Slytherin table.

"He has, to use a common phrase, done a bunk," replied Professor McGonagall to raucous cheers, "and-"

Her words were drowned out by a high, cold voice that Lydia knew all too well. She could not work where it came from for it sounded as though Lord Voldemort was stood right next to her.

"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill any magical blood,"

Lydia gripped George's hand. There were screams of terror from the other students and she wanted nothing more than to get them out of the castle safely.

"Give me Harry and Lydia Potter and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry and Lydia Potter, I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry and Lydia Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight,"

A silence seemed to swallow the whole hall. Lydia looked up at George whose eyes were wide with terror. A solitary figure rose from the Slytherin table and Lydia recognised Pansy Parkinson. She raised a shaking arm and screamed, "but they're there! Someone grab them!"

George automatically moved in front of them, shielding her and Harry from view. There was a massive movement and suddenly, the whole hall was on their feet, shielding them from Pansy Parkinson. Some moved towards Pansy, wands emerging from under their sleeves and cloaks. It almost moved Lydia to tears.

"Thank-you, Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall said smoothly, "Mr Filch, could you please escort Miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin house to the dungeons?"

"What?" Lydia exclaimed, pushing through the crowd surrounding her, "no!" But her protests fell on deaf ears as people began to cheer at Slytherins departure. She whirled round to Draco, "are you alright with this?"

"Obviously not, Potter,"

"If you're going home, leave now," McGonagall said. There was a flurry of movement as people began to leave the room. Only the Slytherin table was deserted.

Kingsley stood up and cleared his throat, "We need a battle plan. We only have half an hour until midnight. Sprout, Flitwick and McGonagall will take a group of troops up to three highest towers - Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Astronomy - that way, they'll have an excellent view of what's having on the grounds. Meanwhile, Remus, Arthur and I will take fighters into the grounds. Harry, Lydia, you two do whatever you need to do,"

Lydia glanced at Harry, "which is-"

"I need to speak to Nearly Head Nick first. Do you have the mirror?"

"Yeah,"

"I'll get you when I need you. You find Ron and Hermione," he thrust the Marauders Map into her hands.

"Right," Kingsley said, "Team leaders up here and we'll divide up troops,"

"Wait - are we leaving the Slytherins in the dungeons?" George asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her back to him.

"What?" Lydia asked.

"I mean...they aren't all their parents, are they? And none of them are really Death Eaters and-"

"I fucking love you," she said, grabbing the front of his shirt and kissing him.

"I love you but I should point out that the Dark Lord is coming to kill you,"

"That's the story of my life, isn't it?"

He grinned at her, "but we really should go,"

"Yeah, no, definitely," she said, grabbing his hand and running towards the dungeons.

The found them locked in the potions classroom, all sat at desks and looking quite bored. When she burst into the room, Daphne, who sat closest to the door, jumped up, her wand in Lydia's face.

"Hey!" Lydia said, holding her hands up, "not here to kill you! Technically here to stop people from killing you!"

Daphne let out a sigh of relief and lowered her wand, her hand on her heart. In the corner of the room, Pansy was still glowering at her but Lydia couldn't care less. George was stood in the doorway, looking up and down the corridor.

"Fifteen minutes left!" He called to her.

"Right," Lydia said, addressing the Slytherins as a whole, "I'm not having you stay here on your own. We're evacuating through the Room of Requirement, follow George and he'll show you where to go,"

Pansy Parkinson rolled her eyes.

"What if we want to fight?" Urquhart asked.

"If you're of age, you can stay and fight - McGonagall's orders. If you're not staying, follow George," she looked over at them, "Well? Why are you still here? Get going!"

"See you in a bit," George said, winking at her, "Follow me!"

Blaise Zabini, Urquhart and Daphne were the only ones who remained. Lydia raised her eyebrows at Zabini who just shrugged and she knew that that was the best she was going to get out of him.

"You lot...uh...you lot with me," she said, suddenly realising that she had no idea what she was actually doing.

There was a muffled shouting coming from her pocket and Lydia pulled the mirror out of her pocket, looking into it. A beaming Harry looked out at her from the mirror.

"Why are you smiling, we're probably going to die,"

"Because I know where the diadem is. It's here. The Room of Requirement!"

"The Room of-fucking hell, Harry! I know where it is! I'll meet you there!" She quickly shoved the mirror back into her pocket and turned around to the others, "we're taking a detour. Come on!"

They ran up to the seventh floor and found the doors of the Room of Requirement thrown open. Inside, only Harry, Ginny and Malfoy remained. Malfoy seemed to be having some sort of argument with Ginny whilst Harry was stood behind them, looking as though he wasn't sure whether he wanted to curse the two of them or not.

"We don't have long," Lydia said, hurrying over to them, "what's going on?"

"Malfoy won't tell me what's going on!"

"Ginny, no one knows what's going on," Lydia said, "I don't even know what's going on, but we need you to get out of this room for a few minutes, tops,"

"My mum said-"

"And then come straight back," Lydia cut across.

"Right, yes, I'll do that," Ginny said, sweeping from the room, her red hair billowing behind her. Lydia did not at all doubt that she was probably not going to come back at any point.

"Did you find Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked.

"No, I was preoccupied with making sure no innocent Slytherins got murdered," Lydia snapped, "although - wait, there they are!"

Hermione and Ron had just come into the room, panting. Lydia frowned at them. Ron was holding a broomstick and Hermione had an armful of what appeared to be fangs. For a moment, Lydia thought that they had raided Hagrid's hut but then she realised what were they were.

"Are those Basilisk fangs?" Lydia asked, amazed.

"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed, "it was Ron's idea! We just went down to the Chamber of Secrets and destroyed Hufflepuff's cup!"

"H-how did you get in?" Harry asked, "you have to speak Parseltongue,"

Ron let out a low hiss, that Lydia recognised as him saying, "open" in Parseltongue.

"You kept that quiet!" Lydia said, "since when have you been able to-"

"I can't," Ron said, "but I remembered what you said when you opened the locket,"

"Right," Harry said, "but that doesn't matter now. I found the diadem, it's in the Room of Requirement-"

"Where people hide things," Lydia cut across, "it's where I hid Harry's potion book after...after he...uh.." She glanced awkwardly at Draco.

"After he took a simple duel one step further?" Draco said.

"Yes, that,"

"Alright," Harry said, "everyone out-"

"Wait!" Ron said.

"What now?" Lydia asked. She looked at Urquharts watch, "we have ten minutes!"

"It's just, the house elves are still here, aren't they?" Ron said, "don't you think we should go and tell them what's happening? We don't want another repeat of Dobby, do we?"

There was a clatter as Hermione dropped the Basilisk fangs she was holding and flung her arms around Ron, kissing him. Ron froze for a moment before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her back, swaying on the spot. Lydia stared at them, beaming. It had taken them long enough.

"Is this the moment?" Harry said weakly.

Lydia hit him in the arm, "leave them alone! It's about time, don't you think?"

"Not when there's a war going on! Ron!" Harry yelled, but he did not look around.

There was a loud bang behind them and Lydia suddenly remembered what they were doing, "hey, you know what, good point. 'Mione! We need to- Hermione, there's a war - girl, seriously?"

"THERE WAS A WAR GOING ON HERE!" Harry bellowed.

They pulled apart, both grinning. Ron shrugged, "Well, it's now or never, isn't it?"

"I'm all here for this," Lydia said, gesturing vaguely at them both, "have been dying for it to happen since third year, however, we have five minutes until Lord Voldemort comes to kill us!"

"Oh, yeah..." Hermione said quietly, bending down and picking up all the Basilisk fangs. Ron, pink in the face, mouthed 'sorry' at the two of them and they ran back out of the room.

Outside in the corridor, the entire castle seemed to be shaking and Lydia knew that the Death Eaters must be getting close. Harry paced up and down outside of the Room of Requirement, muttering hurriedly underneath his breath. A door materialised in the wall in front of them.

"Harry! Wait!" Lydia said, "we should split up-"

"That's a terrible idea,"

"No, it's isn't!" She said, "if the Death Eaters see me then it'll give you more time in here! Think about it!"

"I hate it when you're right," he muttered.

"The diadem is on the bust of a head. It's silver and has a massive blue diamond on it. You can't miss it," Lydia said.

He nodded, "Got it,"

"Urquhart, Daphne, come with me," she said, "See you later,"

Harry nodded and they turned their backs on each other. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco and Zabini hurried into the Room of Requirement, the door snapping shut behind them. Lydia ran down the seventh corridor and into the Entrance Hall just as the first wave of Death Eaters burst into the castle. Lydia grabbed Daphne and pulled her to the floor as a curse flew over their heads, narrowly missing Urquhart who had been knocked over by Daphne.

Lydia jumped up again and through herself into the heart of the battle, sending jinxes every which way. No one had recognised her yet, perhaps because she wasn't giving them any time to. Lydia kicked a Death Eater to the ground and cast a Shield Charm around Ernie Macmillan, who was being cornered by five Death Eaters.

"Depulso!" Lydia yelled, taking one of them of his feet. Luna appeared at her shoulder, and, quite calmly said, "Flipendo," and another one was knocked of his feet.

"That was fun," she said serenely, "Flipendo!" If it weren't for the severity of the situation, Lydia might have found the whole thing quite amusing. She removed the Shield Charm and ran back over to Daphne and Urquhart who were crouched behind the bannister of the marble staircases, laughing quietly. Lydia tried to get next to them, but there was a duck stopping her.

"What-"

"Have you ever heard of the spell Anaticula?" Daphne asked, actually wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "My dad told me about it. If you cast it, it makes the wand of whoever your duelling produce ducks whenever they cast spells,"

Lydia spun around on the spot just as a Death Eater was hurtling down the corridor towards her, wand raised. "Anaticula!"

The Death Eater sliced her wand through the air, "Sectumsempra!"

Automatically, Lydia jumped backwards and closed her eyes, expecting the worse, but she did not feel anything cut into her flesh. Instead, there was just a faint quacking noise and Lydia looked down. A number of ducks were waddling towards her at an alarming fast pace, but they did not look they were going to peck her to death.

Daphne, still giggling, jumped up from behind her, "Aqua Eructo!" A powerful jet of water shot from the end of Daphne's wand and hit the Death Eater in the chest, knocking her off her feet.

"Creative," Lydia said.

"Your pocket is shouting at you," Urquhart said, sending a curse over her head.

"Cover me," she said, hiding behind him and pulling the mirror out of her pocket. At first, she thought that it was broken, for she could not see anything but then she realised that it was smoke that she was looking at. "Harry? Harry?" She called into it.

"Lydia? Can you hear me?" He yelled back, coughing, "The Room of Requirement - it's on fire! I can't get out - HELP!"

"We need to go to the Room of Requirement - now!" Lydia yelled, grabbing the back of Urquharts shirt and dragging him along after her.

Crouching down as low as they could, they ran back up to the seventh floor. Lydia did not let herself get distracted by something as mundane as the Death Eaters. All she could think about was her brother and friends trapped in the burning Room of Requirement. She barely even flinched when she saw Peeves the Poltergeist throwing tiny pots of Venomous Tentacula at unsuspecting Death Eaters or Professor Trelawney chucking Crystal Balls over banisters as though they were Quaffles.

"I have more than enough!" Trewlaney screamed at them, ducking out of the way as one of them shot a Killing Curse at her, "and you won't kill me! I know what the outcome of tonight's battle is!"

Lydia was quite sure that the exact opposite of what Trelawney predicted would happen.

Finally, they arrived at the Room of Requirement. She ran forward and yanked the door open.

Smoke bellowed out of it and Lydia staggered backwards, her hand clasped over her mouth. Daphne dragged her backwards and tapped her hard on the head with her wand. For a moment, Lydia could not work out what she was doing.

"Bubble-Head Charm," Daphne said, casting it on herself and Urquhart, "so you can breathe,"

"Smart!" Lydia said, before running into the room.

They were nowhere to be seen, and Lydia could not hear anyone. Uruqhart punched her in the arm and threw a broomstick at her, holding one himself.

Lydia grinned at him and quickly got on it, kicking off the ground. And then she saw Harry stood on top of a towering pile of junk, waving at her wildly. Hermione and Ron were stood together on another tower somewhere else. She could not see Draco or Zabini.

Lydia flew over to Harry and pulled him onto the broom, "where's Draco and Zabini?" She called to him over the sounds of the roaring fire.

"They got out! I got the diadem!" He yelled back.

"Is this Fiendfyre?" Lydia asked, swerving out of the way of as sudden burst of fire.

"Yes! Why?"

"Drop the diadem!" She yelled.

"What?"

"DROP THE DIADEM!"

Harry did so and, making sure that Daphne and Urquhart were still flying beside them with Ron and Hermione, Lydia urged the broom to go faster and shot out of the doors. At the very last moment, she lost control of the broom and it suddenly bucked, throwing both Lydia and Harry off of it. They lay in a tangled mess on the floor for a moment and Lydia could do nothing but quietly mutter the counter-charm for the Bubble Head Charm.

"It's gone," she muttered to Harry, pulling him up, "the Horcrux. There's no defence against Fiendfyre,"

"Yeah, I worked that one out for myself," he said.

He looked around at the others. Blaise and Draco had since disappeared. Hermione was trying to hold and injured Daphne up. Blood was pouring out of her temple, and she looked very faint.

"Hold her a minute," Hermione said hastily, "I've got Essence of Dittany somewhere...hang on," she thrust her hand into her beaded bag and rummaged around for a moment, "Here, got it!" She dropped some of it onto the cut on Daphne's head and it immediately cleared up, bringing colour back to Daphne's face.

"Oh, that hurt like a mother-"

There was a loud bang and Lydia jumped. Fred and Percy were walking backwards down the corridor as Augustus Rookwood and Pius Thicknesse advanced on them. Their wands moving so quickly that Lydia could barely keep up with them.

"Oh, by the way, Minister, have I told you? I'm resigning!" Percy yelled.

"You're joking, Perce!" Fred yelled, laughing, "I haven't heard you joke since-"

There was another bang though this one was stronger and Lydia felt herself become weightless. She flew through the air, holding onto her wand as tightly as possible as she hit the ground hard, trying to shield her head as much as she could.

Upon impact, Lydia felt the skin on the side of her face tear and blood pour down her face. Her ribs might have been broken, she was not sure but that did not matter for she heard a cry so awful that all the pain she was feeling seemed to melt away.

"Lyds, Lyds?" It was Harry. She felt the concrete of the now destroyed corridor being pulled off her and a hand around her arm, pulling her upwards, "You're alive, aren't you? Merlin, tell me you're alive,"

"I'm alive, I'm alive," she said, "is everyone - is everyone OK?"

Holding onto her brother tighter than she ever had done before, Lydia looked around. Daphne was helping Urquhart up, who did not look too injured. And Hermione was pulling herself out of the wreckage, tears making tracks in the dirt that covered her face. And Ron and Percy were both knelt on the ground, their shoulders shaking with sobs.

"No! Fred! No! No!"

Bile rose up in Lydia's fault as she stared at the body of Fred Weasley, a smile still upon his face. Unable to look any longer, Lydia turned away from him, her head on Harry's shoulder, trying so hard to regulate her breathing but being unable to focus on anything but the fact that Fred Weasley was dead.

"He can't be dead!" Ron yelled, "It's just one of his s-stupid p-pranks! He'll get bored in a minute, wait!"

Hermione was knelt next to him, trying to pull him to his feet but he shrugged her off, "He's just joking! You know what he's like!"

Daphne screamed and pointed ahead of them. A spider the size of a car was forcing itself through a hole in the wall. Lydia and Harry both sent curses hurtling towards it at the same time. The spider jerked horribly and fell backwards through the hole, but it was a meaningless victory for more and more spiders poured through towards them.

Hermione had finally managed to pull Ron away from Fred's body, though he was now collapsed against her sobbing. Harry and Urquhart ran forward and moved Fred out of the way whilst Daphne and Lydia moved towards the oncoming spiders, their wands outstretched. Lydia jumped in front of Percy, stunning a spider who had been making a beeline towards him.

"Percy!" Lydia yelled, "you need to get up!"

He very suddenly jumped up and looked around. Lydia knew who he was looking for. She saw his eyes settle on the tall figure of Augustus

Rookwood who was now pursuing a group of sixth year Ravenclaws.

"ROOKWOOD!" He bellowed and off he went, his wand outstretched.

The spiders were finally starting to disperse, perhaps realising that they would be unable to get through this part of the castle. Hermione and Harry were now wrestling a struggling Ron who was trying to follow Percy, shouting about killing as many Death Eaters as he could fine.

"Ron! If we don't kill the snake it doesn't matter how many Death Eaters we kill! We need to kill Voldemort!" Hermione was saying, kicking him in the shin. She turned to Harry, "Look inside his mind!"

"What?"

"Voldemort's mind, Harry! Look inside of it! We need to find the snake!" She was almost screaming at him now, "I want this to end! I don't want to fight anymore! I'm fed up of it! Just find the damn snake!"

"OK, OK," he said, letting go of Ron who collapsed against the wall, sobbing again. "The Shrieking Shack," he said after a few minutes, "he's in the Shrieking Shack,"

"Let's go then," Hermione said.

"Wait - I need to find George," Lydia said quietly to Harry and Hermione, "I don't want him hearing about Fred from the wrong person,"

"Obviously. Yeah. You have the Marauder's Map, don't you?" Harry said.

Lydia nodded and hid behind a tapestry, pulling the Map out of her jacket and quickly saying, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good,", a lump in her throat as she remembered that it was Fred who had given them the map in the first place. Wiping her eyes, she quickly scanned the map, looking for George's dot. It took her a few minutes, but then she saw him outside the Transfiguration classroom with Neville and Luna.

She quickly tucked the map back into her jacket pocket and took off running again. It took almost half an hour to get to George. The Death Eaters were fighting harder than Lydia had ever thought they would, but the very castle itself seemed to be fighting back. The steps on which Death Eaters were standing suddenly disappeared from beneath their feet, the portraits on the walls shouted words of encouragement and advice to the duellers on the ground and Lydia watched as a suit of armour hit a Death Eater around the head before he could deliver the final blow to Susan Bones.

"GEORGE!" She screamed, "GEORGE!"

"What's wrong?" He asked, "what's happened?"

Before she could answer, before she could even think of the best way to tell him that his twin brother had died, Voldemort's voice reverberated around the school once more. All duels stopped and Lydia could do nothing but grip onto George and wait hear whatever it was Voldemort had to say.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses,"

An image of Fred's dead body swam to the forefront of Lydia's mind and she realised there was no way they would ever be able to quantify what they lost that night.

"Lord Voldemort is merciful. Command my forced to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured,"

Lydia closed her eyes. She almost knew what was coming next.

"I speak now, Harry and Lydia Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one house in the Forbidden Forest. If , at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences,"

Lydia looked up at George who was staring down at her, shaking his head. "Don't. Don't do it,"

"This time, I shall enter the fray myself, and I shall find you both, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour,"

Without her noticing, the Death Eaters had all retreated. Lydia stood in the middle of the corridor, George and Neville were both staring at her, shaking their heads over and over again. Her heart was beating heavily in her chest. Voldemort was right. She had allowed people to die for her instead of just facing him herself.

"Potter," it was McGonagall. Her hair was no longer in its usual tight bun, her robes were ripped and there was a large gash on her cheek, "I know what you are thinking, and I implore you to not hand yourself over. We will not be defeated,"

Lydia didn't know how to tell any of them that they were already defeated. She looked back over at George who was now frowning at her. She knew that he could tell that something was wrong, that they had lost someone important.

"Lyds, who's dead?" he asked slowly, "who is it?"

For possibly the first time in her life, Lydia wanted to be nowhere near George Weasley. The horrible, cowardly part of her was telling her to turn her back on him and walk away, because how on earth was she meant to tell him that his twin was dead? But the better part of her forced her to face him.

"I am so sorry," she said quietly.

"Who is it?"

"There's nothing I could do. Nothing any of us could do,"

"Don't tell me he's dead," George said, his voice breaking and she knew he was talking about Fred, "Lydia, do not tell me that he's gone,"

Slowly, Lydia nodded.

George let out an awful sound that no curse could ever cause. He collapsed to the floor, sobs wracking his body. Immediately, Lydia fell to her knees next to him, wrapping her arms around him, at a loss of what to say. She knew there was no point in telling him that everything was going to be OK, because she really didn't think that it was going to be.


	32. Snape’s Memories

_"And now the end is near_

 _And so I face the final curtain_

 _My friend, I'll say it clear_

 _I'll state my case of which I'm certain_

 _I've lived a life that's full_

 _I've travelled each and every highway_

 _and more, much more than this_

 _I did it my way"_

 _\- Frank Sinatra_

It took Lydia a while to coax George off the floor. She wanted to give him all the time in the world, but time was not on their side. They had less that fifty minutes before Voldemort came for them, and she knew that George was in no shape to duel anyone, never mind the Dark Lord.

Together, they slowly walked to the Great Hall. Madam Pomfrey had set up a makeshift hospital wing in the corner and the dead were lined up in the middle. George hurried over to his family the moment he laid eyes on them. Mrs Weasley was lay sobbing at Fred's head and Mr Weasley knelt next to her, stroking her hair as tears slid down his face. Charlie stood with his arm around Ginny, whose eyes were red and puffy as she looked down at her brother.

Feeling as though it wasn't her place, Lydia hung back slightly but when Ginny turned around and saw her, she pulled her in for a hug. Lydia apologised to her over and over again. They never should have caused such a big deal when they came back to Hogwarts. They should have made Neville force everyone to leave before everything got so out of hand. And yet, they had not, and now Fred Weasley was dead.

Lydia pulled away from Ginny, muttered something about making things right and looked around the room, taking in the dead. Every single person she saw was like a dagger to her heart.

Colin Creevey lay next to Fred, his eyes dull and lifeless. With a pang, Lydia noticed the strap of his camera hanging out of the pocket of his robes. She thought about Dennis Creevey and wondered how on earth he would deal with the death of his older brother. You very rarely saw one without the other. On his other side, Lydia's Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Babbling, was surrounded by her students. Some were crying, others were staring at her blankly as though they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. Lydia couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

She turned away from Colin and Professor Babbling and walked between the rows of dead some more. People who she had grown up with, who she had seen everyday walking the halls were now dead, all because she had never given herself up in the first place. She paused at Lavender Brown's feet. A blanket had been pulled up to her neck, no doubt hiding some deadly injury. Lydia remembered walking into the Great Hall for the first time behind Lavender all those years ago. If they had known then what they knew now...tears blurring her eyes, she turned away from Lavender and immediately wished that she hadn't.

Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks lay side by side, dead. Lydia felt the room begin to spin as she looked down at the two of them...newly married and new parents. Remus had been so happy to have a son, Teddy was all he spoke again and now, Teddy Lupin was an orphan. Lydia vowed that, should she somehow survive this, Teddy Lupin would not be brought up in the way that she and Harry were. He would know love and care and true family.

Unable to look at them any longer, Lydia walked back over to the Weasley's. George stood up when he saw her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers and quietly sobbing.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," he whispered, "the shop..."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Lydia whispered back, wiping his eyes, "whatever happens, we'll get through it,"

He nodded and someone tapped Lydia on the shoulder. It was Harry. He looked tired and defeated. Something had happened. Her first thought was that Ron or Hermione had been killed, but then she saw them behind him and she willed herself to calm down. They now had less than forty five minutes to come up with some sort of plan, and Lydia was all out of ideas.

"Snape is dead," Harry said in a low voice, "Nagini killed him,"

"Oh my god..." Lydia muttered.

"And he gave me his memories. We need to go to Dumbledore's office. Now," he said the last word with such urgency that Lydia did not want to hang around any longer.

She turned back round to George, "I need to go and do something,"

"You're not...you're not handing yourself over, are you?" He asked quietly.

"Of course not," she said, "I'll be right back,"

Lydia barely took notice of anything as they ran through the castle. She didn't notice how empty it was. How all of the portraits seemed to have fallen silent and how even the ghosts seemed to have disappeared. She didn't even stop to question how Harry knew the password to the Headmaster's office or stop to wonder why none of the previous Heads of the school were in their frames.

When Harry poured the silvery memories into the Pensieve, she barely took notice of what was happening around her. Watching the familiar faces of her parents walk and talk hurt her more than she could ever explain. Seeing her father be arrogant in his fifth year and not at all like the man she had come to know threatened to contaminate the few prized memories she had of him. Seeing her mother look at him with such contempt and anger, shattered the illusion of her parents that she clung so desperately to in her mind.

It was only when the adult Snape spoke of her that she paid the memories any attention.

"The girl is in Slytherin." Snape said, "she is quiet and keeps to herself. I don't think she's made friends with anyone in Slytherin House. The boy, on the the other hand, has arrogance enough to match that of his father,"

"Lydia being sorted in Slytherin is...curious," Dumbledore said slowly, "I expected them both to be in Gryffindor. I assumed that they would go wherever the other did,"

The scene dissolved again and they were in Dumbledore's office again but on a different day. Snape was stood on the other side of office, half stood in the shadows.

"It is essential that when the time comes, they know an important piece of information," Dumbledore said.

"What?" Snape asked.

"In order to defeat the Dark Lord...one of them must die," Dumbledore said, "when Lily sacrificed herself for her children, the course rebounded and part of Lord Voldemort's soul latched onto one of them,"

"Which one?"

"I believe it is Lydia," he said, "the reason she never had to have occlumency lessons was because Voldemort was already a part of her and she never knew any different - it affected Harry differently because he'd never known what it was like to be connected to Voldemort. Over time, she learned to deal with it,"

"Does she know?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, Severus. At the end of last year she told me that she would rather kill herself than hunt Voldemort," he sighed, "and I'm worried that that is exactly what she would do if I told her," he paused, "you've known her long enough to know that if she found this out today, she would kill herself before the day is out. She is rather...headstrong,"

"But if that is the only way Voldemort can be defeated-"

"It is integral that it is Voldemort who kills her," Dumbledore said, "it has to be him and the exact right moment,"

"So, you've been raising her like a pig for slaughter? You've been planning to destroy the Potter family again? Harry would be distraught-"

"Severus, don't tell me that after all this time you've come to care for them?"

"Not them," he raised his wand, " Expecto Patronum ," Like when Lydia cast the spell, a Doe burst from the end of his wand and sauntered around the room.

"Lily..." Dumbledore said, "After all this time?"

"Always,"

And now Snape stood again in the headmaster's study as Phineas Nigellus came hurrying into his portrait.

"Headmaster! They are camping in the Forest of Dean! The Mudblood – "

"Do not use that word!"

" – the Granger girl, then, mentioned the place as she opened her bag and I heard her!"

"Good. Very good!" cried the portrait of Dumbledore behind the headmaster's chair. "Now, Severus, the sword! Do not forget that it must be taken under conditions of need and valor – and he must not know that you give it! If Voldemort should read Harry's mind and see you acting for him – "

"I know," said Snape curtly. He approached the portrait of Dumbledore and pulled at its side. It swung forward, revealing a hidden cavity behind it from which he took the sword of Gryffindor.

"And you still aren't going to tell me why it's so important to give them the sword?" said Snape as he swung a traveling cloak over his robes.

"No, I don't think so," said Dumbledore's portrait. "They will know what to do with it. And Severus, be very careful, they may not take kindly to your appearance after George Weasley's mishap. Lydia in particular. She would take great joy in cursing you, I am sure,"

Snape turned at the door.

"Don't worry, Dumbledore," he said coolly. "I have a plan…"

The scene changed again and this time it showed Lydia walking through the forest, following the Doe. Snape lurked in the trees, watching her go.

Lydia gasped and she was suddenly back in Dumbledore's office. She staggered back from the pensieve, her heart beating out of control. Harry stood a little way away from her, his mouth open slightly. She stood and stared at him, trying to find the right words to say but they had never been in a worse situation.

All she had ever wanted to do was survive. When they were chasing the Philosophers Stone and they came face to face with Voldemort again, she had fought for her survival. When they were in the Chamber of Secrets and the sword presented itself to her, she used it in hopes it would help them survive. When she came face to face with Sirius Black, and thought he would kill them, all she had wanted to was survive. During the Triwizard Tournament, she poured over books and studied for her survival. She and Harry lead Dumbledore's Army so that they could survive the war. In her sixth year, she had put all that behind her because that was the best way for her to survive. But she was never meant to survive. She had been raised a soldier who would go on a mission that she was never meant to come back from. Now, she had to do what she had to do so everyone else could survive.

"Remember," Lydia said, fighting to keep her voice calm, "once he kills me, the only thing left is to kill the snake and then you go and kill him, alright? Don't try and kill him before the Snake,"

"I know, Lyds," He said, "I know,"

Lydia nodded. "Right. Well..."

"Don't go!" Harry suddenly exclaimed, "Lydia, don't, d-don't do it, they'll be another way...H-Hermione will have a b-book that says what to do!"

"I don't want to," she whispered and she dissolved into tears again. "Harry, I'm really, really scared,"

A small sob escaped his lips and he bit down in his lip. "If I could go instead of you-"

"I wouldn't let you," She said, "the world needs Harry Potter more than it needs Lydia Potter,"

"That's not true,"

Lydia sniggered, "Do I have to remind you that you're always going to be Gryffindors Golden Boy? Mr Star Seeker..."

"Wait..the snitch," he took the golden snitch out of his pocket and pressed it to his lips. It opened, revealing a small black stone. "The resurrection stone..." he went to turn it over but Lydia stopped him.

"No, not here," she said, "Dumbledore left it for you,"

Harry shook his head and pressed it into her palm.

"I don't want it. Take it with you. Use it. Whatever," he shook his head, "it sends people mad, doesn't it?"

Lydia nodded and closed her fist around it. She wiped her eyes and tried to keep herself calm, for Harry's sake. He reached into his jacket and handed her the Invisibility Cloak.

"I don't want it," he said, "I won't need it after tonight,"

She took the Cloak off him, staring down at it. It was amazing how one piece of fabric could hold so many important memories.

"It's like Dumbledore said, isn't it - to the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure," she said quietly, turning her back on him.

"No!" He yelled, grabbing her arm and pulled her backwards, "No! Lydia! You're not going anywhere! I don't want to - I don't want to be without - you're all I have-"

"Harry, let go of me," Lydia said, trying to tug her arm out of her grip, "We don't have a lot of time, I need to g-go,"

"No, you don't! It's just Dumbledore being a fucking idiot! You don't have to do anything!" Harry yelled.

"Harry, stop it!" Lydia yelled back, tears now streaming down her face, "Stop it! You're making this harder for me!"

"GOOD!" He roared, "I'M NOT LOSING YOU!"

"H, p-please!" Lydia said, still trying to get away from him.

"Lyds, please, don't leave me. Don't go, don't-"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Harry became very rigid and fell to the floor, unmoving. Lydia slowly lowered her wand and hung her head. She had lost count of how many people she had cursed in her life, but cursing Harry might have been the worst thing that she had ever had to do.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I love you," and she quickly ran out of the room, trying to force herself to calm down.

Once she reached the end of the corridor, she pulled out the Marauders Map and pulled on the cloak, hoping that they would be able to get them from her once it was all done.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." More tears sprang to her eyes as she watched the map come to life. "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map," Lydia wondered what would happen if the school-age Marauders could see them now, if they could see how different everything had become.

As though she was sneaking back to the Common Room as if out past curfew, Lydia scanned the map, making sure everyone was where they should be and quickly set off towards the forbidden forest. Walking through Hogwarts at this time was strange. And it wasn't because she felt older than she had ever felt before, or because it was broken and crumbling; but because this was her home. She felt as though she had been born here, and now she was going to die.

Ahead of her, she saw Daphne slowly walking towards her and Lydia acted without thinking. She whipped the Cloak off and ran over to her.

"You're handing yourself over, aren't you?"

Daphne said before Lydia could say anything, "I'm sure there's some noble reason behind it? There usually is,"

"I- I have to. It's the only way we can win," Lydia said, her voice shaking slightly.

Daphne shook her head, "You really are the bravest person that I know,"

"Listen to me," Lydia said, "After...after it happens, I don't know how Harry, Ron and Hermione will react to it and I don't want them to forget that they need to kill the snake,"

"What?" Daphne asked, frowning.

"The snake. Voldemort's snake," Lydia said hurriedly, "just make sure the snake is dead before you try and kill him, alright?" She paused, "and, um, Dumbledore's office. Go to Dumbledore's office and get Harry,"

Daphne nodded and for a few moments, they stood staring at each other. Their friendship was still new and quite strange, and Lydia felt as though she had never appreciated it before. She had never appreciated what it meant to have a friend in the Slytherin common room when everyone else had taken an immediate dislike to her.

"See you," Lydia whispered, knowing she would never be able to put any of this into words. Pulling the Invisibility Cloak back over herself, she turned away from Daphne and carried on.

As she walked through the corridors, there was a distant echo of laughter and Ron, Hermione and Harry were walking besides her. Ron and Hermione were bickering about something unimportant whilst Harry sniggered at them. It was painfully clear that Ron had lost the argument but he was determined to win. Hermione, on the other hand, knew she had won the argument but wasn't going to back down any time soon.

George passed them and winked at her. She grinned back and carried on walking, diving out of the way as a group of Slytherins chased a Gryffindor down the corridor. Their hair had been dyed bright pink and their ears were the size of dinner plates. Ron and Hermione actually abandoned their argument to watch in amusement as the Slytherins fell to the floor, their ears now so big that they couldn't move.

They arrived outside and Lydia automatically turned in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. In the darkness, she could just about see the goal posts. She paused for a moment and closed her eyes. She could feel the wind whipping her hair and her robes as she raced for the goal posts, the Quaffle under her arm, she only had to beat the Keeper now and-

She heard someone sniffle behind her and she turned around, holding onto the Invisibility Cloak. George was sat on the stone steps of the Entrance Hall, wiping his eyes. She was frozen in a trance, staring at him and trying her best to not think about how much pain she was probably going to put him through.

"George? George? Oh, there you are," it was Charlie. He looked tired as he dropped next to his brother and put his arm around him. "Everyone's in the Great Hall-"

"Have you seen Lydia?" George asked, his voice thick with tears. "she went to Dumbledore's office with Harry but I've not seen her since,"

Charlie stared at him with tears in his eyes.

"Harry just told us, George," he said quietly, "oh, I'm so sorry...but, she's gone to Voldemort. She's had to give herself up-"

"NO!" George yelled. He jumped up and launched himself towards the Forbidden Forest, "LYDIA!"

Charlie leapt up and dragged George back towards him. Lydia clapped her hands over her mouth and backed away from them. George fought against his brother, but Charlie managed to push him to the floor.

"If you go after her, you'll only make it harder for her," Charlie said, "And he'll just kill you too. Do you want to put mum and dad through that?"

"I don't have anything - not without them," George sobbed.

"George, listen to me. These next few months are going to be really hard, but you have to get through it. For them," Charlie said. He hauled George up and put his arm around his shoulders, "come on. Let's get away from here,"

Lydia watched as they walked away from her. And she had never felt so lonely in her life. The resurrection stone seemed to vibrate in her hands and, against her better judgement, she turned it over in her hands three time and the forest around her lit up as if by a thousand Patronuses.

Four people walked towards her: James Potter, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. They didn't look like the echoes that she and Harry had seen in the graveyard all those years ago, but real people. Lily was a little taller than Lydia. Her red hair was piled into a bun on top of her head with her wand in it, in the way that Lydia used to in school. She was smiling, albeit a little sadly. For the first time, Lydia truly understood why people always said that they had the same eyes. Sirius looked the same as he had done the last she had seen him, though a lot healthier. He had the same bright, mischievous grin and was still effortlessly handsome. James looked at her with more sadness in his eyes than the other two, perhaps it was because he had had the chance to get to know her and then it had been taken away from them. Remus looked the youngest she had ever seen him. There were no lines on his face and his robes did not look shabby at all.

"You've been so brave, sweetheart," said Lily, holding out her hand. Lydia rushed forward and tried to take it, but she couldn't.

"Does it hurt? Dying?" Lydia asked, wishing that she could have asked the question in a less childish way.

"Quicker and easier than falling asleep," Sirius said, winking at her.

"Why are you here?" Lydia asked.

"We never left," James whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I never wanted any of you to die for me. I never wanted this," Lydia cried, "And, Dad you'd got a second chance and-"

"The two years I spent with you and Harry was better than I could have asked for," James said, "I wouldn't change it for the world,"

"And, Remus, your son-"

"Will know that his mother and father died so that he can live in a better world," Remus said.

"You'll stay with me?"

"Until the end," Lily promised.

"And he won't be able to see you?" Lydia asked.

"No. We're here, you see." Sirius said, pointing at Lydia's heart.

Pulling herself together and wiping the tears from her eyes, Lydia Potter straightened her back and walked through the Forbidden Forest, her path lit by her protectors. The Forest was the calmest and the quietest that Lydia had ever seen it. No creatures rustled in the bushes and there was no distant sound of Centaurs hooves in the distance.

They finally came to a clearing. Lord Voldemort stood in the middle of it with his back to Lydia. His Death Eaters were stood around him, most of them looked bored. Lydia held her head higher and, with a jolt, realised that Hagrid was tied to a tree with Bellatrix stood next to him. She felt a sudden burst of anger and dropped the resurrection stone to the floor. James, Lily, Remus and Sirius disappeared from next to her and the clearing was bathed in darkness again.

"My Lord...I don't think they are coming." One of the Death Eaters rasped.

"I'm here." Lydia said as loudly as she could. She stuck her wand back in her bun.

"Lydia? No! What are yer doin'?" Hagrid roared, "Go back!"

Lydia couldn't bring herself at him. She realised that she had never told him how important he was to her, how much she appreciated him and everything that he had done for her over the years. Her heart breaking in two, she locked eyes with Voldemort who had now turned to face her. The more he looked at her, the more her scar hurt and the less she cared.

"Where's your brother?" Voldemort asked.

"He's back at the castle." Lydia told him. "But forget him. I'm here." She paused. "I'm not even going to fight back." She held up her hands to show that her wand wasn't in her hand. "Let's get it over and done with, then."

Lord Voldemort regarded her for a moment. An image of Harry flashed to the front of her mind as there was a flash of green light and everything went dark.


	33. Homecoming

**_"When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."_**

 ** _-Tecumseh_**

When Lydia awoke, she was alone.

She was lay flat on her back in a blindingly white place, mist covering the floor. She looked down at her hands and frowned, they were not cut or bruised or covered in dirt like they had been just moments before, but clean and unblemished. She could not even see the scars from Umbridge's quills. There was not a single part of her that wanted to move of the floor, and she was more than happy to never move again. She could definitely make a life for herself here.

When she attended muggle primary school, they learned about heaven. Even at such a young age, and having already lost so much, Lydia had found it hard to believe that such a place of peace could actually exist. Now, at the age of seventeen, she couldn't even be bothered to entertain the idea.

But now she was confused for this was kind of place that people imagined their loved ones went when they died.

"Oh shit, I'm dead," she muttered.

It took her a few minutes to work out what had exactly happened. It came rushing back to her soon enough. George's sobs echoed through her mind, mixed up with Harry's yells. She wondered what he was doing now. She hoped that whatever it was, it wasn't something stupid but then she remembered that this was her brother that she was thinking about, so he must have been doing something ridiculously stupid. She just hoped that it was being supervised by Hermione who would be able to talk some sense into him.

She squeezed her eyes shut and as she did so, she remembered the glow of Lord Voldemort's eyes as he looked at her. She remembered watching him raise his wand and cast the spell that had haunted her for years. Once again, the green flash of the Killing Curse seemed to engulf her very being and it was finally over.

Feeling as though someone had struck her in the chest with a hot iron, she pushed herself off the ground and looked around, only growing more confused because she was in Kings Cross Station. Except, it wasn't Kings Cross because it was too clean and she couldn't see any trains. There was no sounds of trains rushing down the tracks or frantic parents trying to keep an eye on their children as they ran riot. She needn't worry about anything else anymore.

Her chest continued to throb and she looked down at it, pulling the neck of her t-shirt away from her, revealing a new scar. It was much bigger than any of the others she had and, like the one on her forehead, it was shaped like a lightning bolt. It ran from down the side of her neck and down her chest. Lord Voldemort really hadn't held back this time. She raised a hand to the scar on her forehead, but it did not seem to be there, confusing her further.

Slowly, she pushed herself off the floor and looked around, thinking she had never been in a stranger or more peaceful place. A low moan behind her caught her attention and she turned around, a scream almost escaping her lips when she saw what was lay on the floor. At first, she thought it was a child but it was too ugly to be anything slightly human.

"Lydia,"

She spun around, coming face to face with Lily Potter. Lydia staggered away from her, feeling quite light headed. Behind her, James stood with Remus and Sirius.

"Mum..." she breathed.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said, slowly walking forward and taking Lydia's hands in her own.

"Am I - am I done?" Lydia asked.

Lily nodded and Lydia felt herself relax for the first time since she was eleven.


	34. The Boy who Lived

**_"Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes, and we keep living anyway,"_**

 ** _\- Lin Manuel-Miranda_**

The door of the Headmaster's study swung shut behind his sister and Harry tried to yell for her to come back, but he could not move. . It was not fair. She shouldn't have had to die. He felt a sudden rush of anger towards Dumbledore. Why had he never been upfront with them? Why had he never sat them down and explained exactly what was going to happen in their life? He knew every little detail about how to bring Voldemort down and yet he thought that his best bet was to just let them work it out? He had rested the fate of Wizarding World on the shoulders of two seventeen year olds without so much of a prod in the right direction.

The door opened again and, for one glorious moment, Harry thought that she might have come back but then he saw the face of Daphne Greengrass staring down at him. If he could move, he would probably frown at her and ask what she was doing. She sighed, muttered the counter curse and then helped him up.

"I just saw her," her voice was strangely calm.

"I'm sorry we were never friends in school," he said, "but thank-you for being nice to her,"

"She said that we have to kill the snake,"

Harry nodded, "I know. She knows I know that,"

"I know," Daphne said, "I'm sorry, Harry, that you've lost her,"

"Me too," he said.

She smiled awkwardly at him and then left the room, wiping her eyes. Harry turned to face the door, suddenly rooted to the spot. What was he going to tell people? What was he going to tell Ron and Hermione? What was he going to tell George? The happiest he had ever seen his sister was after he had not-quite proposed to her and Harry still remembered her telling him that George had asked her to the Yule Ball. She had tried to play it casual, but he could tell that she was beyond excited to go.

Without realising it, he had walked all the way from the Headmaster's office and down to the Entrance Hall. Hermione and Ron were sat on the stairs, not speaking and Harry knew that there was no way to avoid them. He gently tapped Ron on the shoulder and he turned around.

"Harry! Where's - where's Lydia?" he asked, standing up and looking over his shoulder as though she was hiding behind her, "Is she...is she still in Dumbledore's office?"

Hermione gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth, tears cascading down her cheeks.

"She's gone, hasn't she?"

Harry nodded.

Ron groaned and sank back down to the ground, his head in his hands. Hermione stood up and faced Harry, shaking her head.

"Why?"

"She had to," Harry said, "It's the only way we could win," he halfheartedly explained what had happened, though he didn't think that either Ron or Hermione were listening properly. Harry wasn't even paying attention to what he was saying.

Together, they walked into the Great Hall. The Weasleys descended on them almost immediately. George wasn't there, and Harry was not sure whether or not this was a good thing or not.

"Where's Lydia?" Bill asked, "she hasn't - she hasn't gone to him, has she?"

Once again, Harry nodded. Saying the word yes in response to this question made it feel too real.

"I'll go and find George," Charlie whispered, "He needs to find out from someone who isn't Voldemort,"

After a few minutes, being in the Hall with everyone got too much. Harry paced up and down outside the doors, news of what Lydia had done had quickly spread and Harry watched people react to it. Some were crying whilst others stared blankly at the walls. Ron and Hermione sat together, Hermione resting her head on his shoulder. The sight warmed Harry's heart despite everything. Lydia had been right. It was about time. The other Weasley's were sat together with the exception of George. He was sat on the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall, staring at the floor. Harry watched him for a few moments, wondering what on earth he was meant to say to him. Between losing Fred and Lydia, Harry wondered if he would ever be the same. Harry turned away from George and he saw Professor McGonagall stood in the doors of the Great Hall, her hands clasped in front of her. He knew that ever since Lydia had been sorted into Slytherin and became a bit of an outcast, McGonagall had had a soft spot for her.

He turned around and found Draco. He was sat on his own, looking up at the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. It was a clear night and the stars shone down on them. Harry wondered if Lydia had stopped to appreciate the beautiful night sky before she had gone into the Forbidden Forest, or if she had just walked straight in with her head held high, focusing on nothing but her death.

Neville came up behind him and put his arm around his shoulders. Neither of them said anything, they did not have to. George was back in his line of sight. Something in him told him he had to go and sit with him, to at least take on the impossible task of making him feel better.

"You should go and speak to him," Neville said quietly.

Harry nodded and walked over to him. George did not look up immediately. He just sat there, sniffling until Harry finally spoke.

"You know, if she knew you were crying this much she'd probably tell you to blow off some steam by blowing something up. Or whatever it is you do," Harry said quietly.

"We were going to get married," George said, "Fred was going to be my best man..."

"I know," Harry said, his voice breaking, "I wanted to walk her down the aisle," he cleared his throat, "but, George, in all seriousness, I want to...I want to say thank you,"

"What for?"

"For making her so happy. For loving her so much," Harry said, "and...and I'm sorry that it had to be this way. I wish I could change it,"

"Let's just make sure that they didn't die for nothing, yeah?" George said.

Before Harry could reply, there was a searing pain in his scar and he yelled out, toppling down the steps. Quick as a flash, Ron and Hermione were next to him, pulling him up. Tears were falling over his cheeks before he could stop them and he felt as though he had lost a part of himself. He had lost a part of himself.

"She's gone," Harry gasped, "He did it. He killed Lydia,"

Hermione burst into tears again. Ron did not react, perhaps he could not find it in himself to do so. Draco suddenly appeared at his shoulder, and Harry was shocked to see that there were tears in his eyes.

"Harry, what's that?" He said, pointing out of the doors of the Entrance Hall.

From the Forbidden Forest, Harry could see Voldemort walking towards them. Hagrid was walking behind him slightly, followed by the Death Eaters, but Lydia was nowhere to be seen. Without waiting for the others, Harry hurried outside and the great deal of footsteps behind him told him that everyone else had realised that something was happening.

Lord Voldemort came to a halt a short distance away from them, flanked by his Death Eaters. Hagrid was stood with them, holding something in his arms and Harry's heart dropped to his stomach. From where he was stood, he could just about see a mess of black hair and a scarred, limp hand on which a pearl ring sat.

Lydia.

McGonagall realised who Hagrid was holding and let out a loud cry. Ron was staring at Lydia, his mouth hanging open slightly. George took one look at Lydia and yelled out, dissolving into sobs again and clinging onto Percy for support. Draco gripped Harry's arm so tightly that it was beginning to hurt, but it only reminded him that he wasn't as numb as he really felt. Bellatrix was cackling so loudly, that it seemed to echo around the grounds and Harry wanted nothing more than to hurt her as badly as he could. For Neville's parents, for Sirius, for Dobby, for Lydia...

"Lydia Potter, your saving grace, was killed when she found running away from the battle. She was more than prepared to leave you all to perish," Voldemort spoke in a clear, loud voice. "Now, join my ranks, or die,"

No one moved.

"Come, Draco,"

Harry looked over, Narcissa Malfoy was holding out her hand towards him.

"Come on," she said.

"No," Malfoy said. "No," he said again, this time louder, "I stand with Harry Potter. I already told you,"

Then, even stranger, Neville walked forward, taking everyone by surprise. Harry grabbed Neville's arm and tried to pull him back, but it was no use.

"And who is this?" Voldemort asked.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The son of the Aurors!" Bellatrix cackled.

"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking Neville up and down, "You are Pure-Blood, are you not? I am sure you will make a valuable Death Eater soon enough,"

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," Neville spat, "and I want to say something. Lydia dying doesn't mean it's over. She'd want us to fight. She always wanted us to fight. She wanted us to fight for everything - love, tolerance, Dumbledore's Army...if we stop now, it would be an insult to her memory!"

"You stupid boy!" Voldemort laughed, "Perhaps you can be an example to show what happens when you don't stand by me - _crucio_!" Neville screamed and became rigid, but he did not fall to the ground. It was like he was determined to stay stood upright, "And now," Voldemort continued, "The school of Hogwarts will no longer have four houses, only one - Slytherin House!"

"If you did that, you'd be carrying on her legacy!" Harry yelled, "She was a Slytherin! And she fought against your stupid belief system every damn day she was at this school! Her Slytherin will live on!"

"But you, will not. Ava-"

" _CONFRINGO_!" Harry yelled, his wand aimed at Nagini. As he suspected, nothing happened, but it was enough to distract Voldemort, "GREAT HALL! NOW!"

" _Accio sorting hat!"_ Hermione inexplicably cried.

Out of one of the smashed windows, the sorting hat soared through the air and landed in front of Neville. Harry watched as Neville stooped down and pulled something out of it, something long and silver. In one swift, clean motion, Neville brought the sword down through the air and onto Nagini. The snakes head spun in the air and fell to the ground.

No one needed telling twice. There was a great scuffle as both friend and foe made their way into the castle. The Great Hall was buzzing with activity. Ron and Hermione were expertly taking on four death eaters whilst Shacklebolt and McGonagall were both duelling Voldemort. Harry heard a cry and whirled around - Bellatrix was duelling Ginny and was about to deliver the fatal spell. Harry roared and ran forward but Mrs. Weasley beat him too it. She pushed Ginny out of the way and advanced on Bellatrix, looking more terrifying than Harry had ever seen her.

"Not my daughter, you bitch!" Harry watched in amazement as Mrs Weasley, the woman who Harry had become accustomed to seeing doing mundane tasks such as cooking, was duelling Bellatrix in the most violent way possible. Harry had never seen anyone fight like her. It was quite terrifying.

So terrifying, in fact, that the rest of the Hall actually stopped what they were doing to watch. With one final push, Bellatrix Lestrange fell to the floor, unmoving and Molly Weasley stepped back, a satisfied look on her face.

Voldemort ran towards Mrs. Weasley but was stopped by the entrance of a Patronus. A shining Doe galloped into the Hall and planted itself between Voldemort and Mrs. Weasley. Voldemort actually faltered at the sight of the doe, staring down at it.

He remembered being in the Room of Requirement in fifth year and watching Lydia teach the others the Patronus charm. This same Doe had sauntered around the room for the whole lesson, bringing warmth and comfort to what was quite a stressful lesson.

"It all ends here, Tom." Harry said, "It's between me and you." He didn't know how he knew, he just did.

"You dare call me that name?" He hissed, his red eyes full of contempt.

"Yes. Because that's who you are and who you will die as." Harry was surprised he was managing to maintain a calm voice.

"I will never die," Voldemort spat.

"You will. We got the Horcruxes, Tom. We worked it all out." Harry smiled. "And you can never hurt any of us again."

"And why is that?"

"Love." Harry said simply.

"Love?" Voldemort laughed, "You still believe in everything that Dumbledore told you?"

"My mother sacrificed herself for us," Harry said, "And Lydia just did the same thing. You can hurt us anymore, Tom. We have love on our side. We always have,"

And then there were two cries:

"Avada Kadavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

An eternity passed and Tom Riddle's wand flew into the air. It ricocheted off the war and the curse hit him in the chest. Riddle took one last breath and fell to the floor with a mundane thump. There were seconds of silence and then the room erupted into cheers and there were hands grabbing him, hugging him - The Boy who Lived.


	35. Epilogue

**_It is impossible for you to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have."_**

 ** _-Cheryl Strayed_**

Harry Potter was numb. He sat cross legged in the apartment that had once belonged to his father and wondered if he would ever feel anything again. He had gone to funeral after funeral but hadn't felt a thing. He was scared that this next one would unlock a feeling that he wouldn't be able to control.

He stood up from the floor and walked to his sisters room. Hands shaking, he placed his hand on the door handle and pushed it open. Sunlight was streaming through the open window. Her bed was unmade as she had left it and there was a Slytherin jumper screwed up on the floor. Slowly, he picked it up and dropped it back onto the bed.

He wandered over to the far wall and looked at the pictures that had been stuck there. There was one of him and her in their fourth year at the Yule Ball. It was hard to believe that Voldemort hadn't returned at that point. That was probably why their smiles were so wide. There was another one of her and Ron playing exploding snap. She laughed loudly as they exploded in Rons face and he fell backwards off his chair. His favourite one, though, was the one of them with James. It was at The Burrow during the Christmas of their sixth year. They were wearing jumpers that Mrs Weasley had knitted and were beaming at the camera.

The funeral was the next day. He stood in front of the mirror and fiddled with his dress robes. They seemed heavier than usual. Or maybe that was just his heart. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him in the living room; their faces pale and deep bags under their eyes. The past few weeks had taken a toll on them all. Not for the first time, Harry wished that Lydia was around. She was always able to make light of a bad situation.

"How's George?" Harry asked Ron. There wasn't anyone who wasn't constantly worried about him.

Ron shrugged. "He doesn't really speak. I don't know if he'll be able to get through today. I don't know if I will,"

Next to him, Hermione have a small sob. "I'm sorry," she said, "I just can't believe she's gone,"

Ron put his arm around her, "you don't need to apologise about anything," he glanced up at Harry, "Do you have your eulogy?"

Harry nodded and held up a piece of parchment. It was a bit ridiculous really because so many people wanted to say something about her. Harry had had quite a stressful time trying to decide who would speak and had decided on himself and McGonagall. Neither Ron, Hermione nor George had felt like speaking. Harry thought that Lydia would have thought it all a bit much but, as Hermione pointed out, she was quite a big deal.

The funeral was held at Godric's Hollow. George was stood with Lee Jordan. He was not crying, but looked completely blank. Harry thought that he might have preferred it if he was crying. Everyone else seemed to be crying. Hermione and Ginny were hugging each other and sobbing; Ron looked like he might collapse.

"You know, I don't know if I can do this," Ron muttered, looking around, "Wheres the nearest pub?"

"I can't do this either, but we're doing it together," Harry said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to sit down, "Attending my sister's funeral wasn't exactly high on the list of things I wanted to do today,"

The first part of the funeral went by quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Harry barely registered what was going on. The wizard who had carried out Dumbledore's funeral had said a few words about how brave she was. Harry felt like that was a silly thing to say. Everyone already knew how brave she was. He looked down at the eulogy in his hands and realised that he had also written about how brave she was. Maybe he wouldn't mention that.

"And now, a word from one of Lydia's Hogwarts teachers, Minerva McGonagall," the wizard said, bowing his head and moving aside.

McGonagall nodded at the wizard and cleared her throat.

"The first time I met Lydia, was a week after she and her brother were born," Harry's head snapped up. He had never heard this story before, "and the next time I saw her, was after the fateful Halloween night, and I knew that the next time I saw them, they would not at all be the children that Lily and James would have brought them up to be, but they were OK. I knew that they would be safe at Hogwarts. Or..I thought they would be.

"Although Lydia was never in Gryffindor, she did become an honorary Gryffindor. So much so that sometimes I forgot she was not in my house and often gave house points to Gryffindor when I should have given them to Slytherin. She only started correcting me in her third year. Though, sometimes, I'm sure she let me take house points off Gryffindor instead of Slytherin,"

Harry smiled inwardly. He knew that Lydia used to let teachers take house points off Gryffindor when they got her house mixed up. He wondered why no one had ever called her out on it, though.

"Anyone who knew Lydia knew that she was not your average girl. Even from a young age she harboured a defiance that that I had only ever seen before in her mother. In fact, one of my clearest memories of the two of them are almost the same memory. I remember an eleven year old Lily Evans turning up to a Quidditch match with Slytherin colours painted on her cheeks, and Lydia turning up to one with Gryffindor colours painted on her cheeks,"

Some people laughed; perhaps they remembered the Quidditch match and the genuine controversy it caused, or perhaps the thought of an eleven year old going against the Hogwarts status quo was something ridiculous. The more Harry thought about it, the more he realised how ridiculous it really was. He felt as though that maybe he had never appreciated his sister for the amazing person she actually was.

"If we were all a little more like Lydia Potter, then maybe the world wouldn't be so bad," she glanced at Lydia's coffin and a tear escaped her eye, "Rest easy, Miss Potter,"

There was a smattering of applause as McGonagall sat back down, wiping her eyes. Harry was beginning to think that him speaking was possibly the worst thing that he could do. He wasn't sure he would even be able to say her name without bursting into tears. He supposed that if there was ever an acceptable time for him to cry publicly, it was now.

"Finally, Lydia's twin brother, Harry, will say a few words,"

Harry clenched his jaw and stood up, walking to the front. His legs felt as though they were made of lead and he almost tripped over his dress robes. As he turned to face the congregation, Harry couldn't quite believe how many people were there. He was quite sure that some of these people had never met her before in their lives. Trying to smile tentatively, Harry unrolled the scroll of parchment in front of him and almost rolled his eyes at him. What he had written was a load of shit. He really should have gotten Hermione to read over it. Sighing, Harry rolled his parchment up and looked up at everyone again.

"For the longest time, the only person I had was Lydia. W-we didn't have a lot growing up. We didn't have anything...we didn't have anything but each other," he was angry at how much his voice was shaking, "And now that I don't even have her, I don't actually know what I'm going to do. We were always aware that there was every chance that we wouldn't come out of this alive, but- but I never thought about it. I never wanted to t-think about a world where my sister wasn't alive,"

He glanced over at Ron and Hermione, both of whom were now sobbing uncontrollably. George was staring at his hands, Lee Jordan had his arm around his shoulders and was looking up at the sky. He took a shaky breath and forced himself to start speaking again.

"I could go on and on about how brave and kind and funny Lydia was, but what would be the point in that? Everyone already knows all these things about her. You knew it every time you had a conversation with her. My favourite thing about her was how she stood up for people, all the time. She once cursed someone because they said something, 'vaguely mean,' about me and...that's just the kind of person she was.

"But, since I'm her brother, I think I'm allowed to talk about the moments in her life when she wasn't that amazing. Like the time she accidentally on purpose disintegrated an entire row of desks in potions and just turned to me and said, 'do you think we're going to get detention for this?'"

He paused as people laughed, "and, for the record, we both spent three weeks in detention and she still stands - sorry, she stood by the fact that it was an overreaction on Professor Snape's part. Hermione still says that it's her own fault for throwing two fireworks into the cauldron, when one would have been more than enough.

He shook his head and wiped his eyes.

"And...one would have been more than enough. And one more day with her would have be more than enough.

Because...because there's things I need to tell her. It's stupid because I never realised that sometimes I'd just speak to her about stupid stuff. It wasn't all Horcruxes and Lord Voldemort, sometimes we'd just talk about what we wanted to eat for breakfast and how tired we were. Just this morning, I woke up and I was going to ask her if she wanted to g-go to the Leaky Cauldron for s-something to eat, but then I remembered that she isn't here anymore.

"Anyway, there's no point in getting worked up over all this because...well, because we can't change what happened, I guess. What we can do though, is make sure that this never happens again. We can make sure that no one ever has to do what Lydia had to do ever again. And we carry on, for Lydia,"

Tears now streaming down his face, he turned and looked at the coffin for the first time. It was so small. It didn't look big enough. Slowly, he placed his hand on it and let himself cry.

"Goodbye, Lydia," he whispered.

Ron appeared at his shoulder and lead him back to his seat. He squeezed his eyes shut when the actual burial took place. That was the last thing he wanted to see. It was only when he heard Hermione start to cry again that he opened his eyes and he took in the headstone. Lydia had been added onto Lily and James', and it only made him feel worse.

 **James Potter**

 **March 27th 1960 - October 31st 1981**

 **June 24th 1995 - April 13th 1998**

 **Lily Potter**

 **January 30th 1960 - October 31st 1981**

 **Lydia Potter**

 **July 31st 1980 - May 2nd 1998**

 **The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.**

"She's really gone," a voice whispered behind Harry.

He turned around. George was stood there, staring at the headstone.

"I'm sorry, Harry," he said, "losing a twin, it's tough...anyway, I'll see you around,"

"Yeah. See you, George,"

Hermione came up behind him and took his hand, "I don't want to upset you, but your Aunt, Uncle and cousin here,"

He jumped as though something as stung him and turned around. Sure enough, in the very back row, the Dursleys were sat, looking as though they weren't sure what to do with themselves. Anger boiled within him as he stared at them. He was willing to bet that this was the first time that Petunia had even come to visit her sisters grave. He wondered what Lydia would think if she knew that Dursleys had come to her funeral.

Against his better judgement, he walked over to them. He knew that if he didn't speak to them one last time, he would be angry at himself. There must have been some reason for them coming, however strange the reason might have been. Both Ron and Hermione tried to pull him back, but he shoved them off.

"Vernon," Harry said, "Petunia, Dudley...why are you here?"

"To pay our respects," Vernon said, eyeing Harry uneasily.

"You never respected her when she was alive," snapped Harry, "and you're a bit late now, aren't you?"

"She never respected us!" Petunia said.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Oh, just fuck off, would you? She died to save your sorry arses and you're still insulting her!"

"Harry, mate, just leave it," Ron muttered in his ear, "Let's just...let's just go-"

"No!" Harry yelled, "No! Do you know what these twats were like when we were growing up? They never gave two shits about us! They have no idea - no idea..." His voice broke, "every year, we'd come back from H-Hogwarts traumatised from some shit we'd have to put up with and they wouldn't give a damn! And now that she's dead, they feel bad and they're just here to ease their conscience!"

He glared at them, "You know - don't even know - I wish - you - fuck off. Seriously, the three of you, fuck off. I don't - I don't ever want to hear from you ever again. I don't want anything to do with any of you ever again,"

Hermione gently took his hand again and pulled him away from the Dursleys, all of whom looked to be in varying states of shock. He heard Ron tell them to piss off and he managed a smile. He looked around again and his eyes fell on Professor McGonagall who was stood at the headstone, her head bowed.

"Sorry, can I just...can I speak to McGonagall?" Harry said quietly.

"Of course," Hermione said, kissing him on the cheek, "We'll be back at that pub..."

"I'll be there,"

Hermione smiled at him, "No you won't, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow,"

Professor McGonagall did not immediately look up when Harry joined her. He was quite sure he could hear her crying. He had never quite appreciated how hard it would be for the Hogwarts teachers who would have to see their students die.

"Professor, is there anyone at Hogwarts right now?"

"I don't believe so, no. Why?" McGonagall answered.

"I - I just want to go back for a few hours. You don't...you don't mind, do you?"

"No, Harry," she replied. Before he walked off, she put her hand on his shoulder, "I am sorry that you lost her, Harry. It shouldn't have ended this way,"

"But it did, Professor," said Harry, "There's nothing I can do about that now,"

He Apparated into Hogsmeade and made the long walk up to the castle. He took his cloak off and dropped it onto a wall. Carrying it around was too much work. Everything was too much work. It was only when he got up to the castle that he realised it was the place on earth that he wanted to be. He could still hear the sounds of the battle, he could still smell everything he could on that night.

Then, he did something that he knew that he probably shouldn't and walked into the Forbidden Forest; walked the very same path that she did. He didn't really know where he was going, but there was something pulling him to the very heart of the forest. He didn't even have his wand in his hand in case something tried to attack him. Maybe the forest would understand that he'd had more than enough people try to attack him in his lifetime.

He knew he was in the right place when he came to a clearing. The ground was dead and scorched, and he knew he was in the same place that his sister had been when she had been killed. He wondered what she had thought about in her last minutes, if anything. Had she thought of him, Ron, Hermione and George? Or had she just stared blankly ahead, waiting for death?

Bile rising in his throat, he turned around, intent on leaving but then something caught his eyes. How he noticed it, he wasn't entirely sure, but he was very glad that he did. It was a small black stone that he had spent weeks obsessing over, and Lydia had not thought that it was important...until it was.

For the second time that day, he did something against his better judgement and picked it up off the ground. He stared at it for a moment and then nodded. Dumbledore had left it for him for a reason...he had wanted him to use it. To say goodbye, one last time. And so he turned it over three times in his hand.

A bright, calming light filled the clearing and he turned around. For a moment, he could see nothing but the bright light and then it came into focus.

"Lydia..." He breathed.

She looked exactly as she did when she had died. Her hair in a bun on the top of her head and her wand stuck in it. She was smiling at him, though there was some sadness in the smile.

"Hey, H," she said, "those dress robes are awful,"

"I wore these to your funeral," he said.

She scrunched up her nose, "You're going downhill already,"

"I miss you, Lyds. I didn't - I didn't want you to die,"

A tear rolled down her cheek, "I've not gone far, not really. I'll never leave you, Harry,"

"You seem really far away, now, Lyds," Harry said, "Really, really far away,"

Lydia looked away from him. Even in death, she hated crying in front of people.

"You can't focus on this forever, Harry. The resurrection stone will drive you mad. You know what happened in that story," Lydia said, "We're going to have to goodbye soon,"

Harry shook his head, "I - I don't want to. I have no one else,"

She rolled her eyes, "Don't be ridiculous, Harry. You have Ron and Hermione and Neville and Luna and...Draco. Do me a favour, H, ask Draco out. You'll only do everyone's head in, if not,"

He laughed, "Yeah, maybe I should..." He wiped his eyes, "George misses you,"

"I know," Lydia whispered, "I miss him. I miss - I miss you all,"

"I can't stick around here forever, can I?" Harry said.

"No, you have a life to live," she said, "Go and get a job and marry Draco and live a normal life. It's what you deserve. It's what we both deserved. Do it for me, at least."

"Lydia, can I just...before you go. Can I say...thank-you," he said, "for everything,"

She grinned at him, though there were still tears streaming down her face, "Get rid of the stone, Harry, the last thing we need is more people going insane,"

He nodded at her, "I know, Lydia. I'm not as stupid as you think I am,"

"Yes, you are, Harry," Lydia said. She grinned at him, "I say that with all the love in the world,"

"Goodbye, Lydia,"

 **Nineteens Year Later**

George Weasley wandered around his shop. He was not going to open today, but he liked to make sure that everything was still in order. His eyes fell on the cage of Pygmy Puffs. A particularly fluffy purple one looked up at him and squeaked. Bile rising up in his throat, he hurried to the front of the shop and put the closed sign up and backed away. It was always this bad on September 1st. That's when he always thought of them.

The sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs brought him back to earth. George straightened his back and looked up as his son, Fred, launched himself at him and George only just managed to catch him.

"You alright, mate?" He asked.

Fred yawned. He was just turned 10 and was already excited about Hogwarts.

"I want to go to school!" He said.

"You can't go yet," George reminded him, putting him on the floor, "but it won't be long now. Only one more year,"

"I'm going to play on my broom," and then he raced off.

Slowly, George followed him. He had never married or found anyone again. He didn't want to. But when his brothers started having kids and he became more known as "Uncle George" than anything else, he realised that there was something missing from his life. Harry and Draco had pointed him in the direction of adoption and he was content with life.

As he walked through the back room and out into the garden, he realised how lucky he was to be alive.

"Harry, dear, we're going to be late," Draco said, pushing the trolley with all the trunks on, "Where has Lydia gone? Oh - she's there - Lydia! No! Don't mess up your hair it took me hours - oh, Merlin..." he sighed, "and I thought James was going to be the nightmare child,"

"He is," Harry reminded him, "And so is Lydia. We adopted two nightmare children," he glanced behind them at their twins who were still two years out Hogwarts: Ruby Luna and Remus Neville Potter-Malfoy. "At least the twins are quiet,"

"For now," Draco muttered, herding their children through the gate at the platform. Lydia practically skipped through. "I knew two sets of twins at Hogwarts and neither were quiet,"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harry said lightly.

"There they are!" Ruby said, pointing at Ron and Hermione who were stood with Rose and Hugo.

"All right?" Ron asked, "I'm going to have a free house all today! Hermione's at work, kids at school...I'm going to take full advantage and do nothing!

"I left a list of things you need to do on the kitchen table," Hermione reminded him.

"I'm going to take full advantage and do some things!" Ron corrected. "George closed the shop today," he added to Harry and Draco.

"Not that I can blame him," Hermione said quietly.

"He didn't want to because of...you know," Ron said, looking uncomfortable.

"You can say her name, Ron, I'm not going to start crying. I do have a child named after her," Harry reminded him.

"Yeah, well I don't want to say her name. I'm emotional today! We met 19 years ago today! Do you remember?" He said.

"Vividly," Hermione sighed.

"Who'd have thought we'd end up here?" Draco laughed.

Harry snorted and looked over at Hermione who had tears in her eyes. He sighed and put his arm around her as she hurriedly wiped her eyes. Ron was stood behind them, tormenting the kids.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed, "I just can't help but think about her,"

"I know," Harry said quietly, "me too. But she'd be really annoyed if we were crying about her. Especially if the Minister for Magic was crying about her,"

Hermione laughed and straightened up, wiping her eyes. "I know." She sighed and looked around, "Merlin, I miss her,"

"We all do," Ron said, rejoining them.

Lydia tugged on her fathers hand and pulled him away from the group. She looked suddenly very anxious. Harry frowned at her.

"What's wrong, love?" He asked.

"What if I'm sorted into Slytherin? I know dad was in Slytherin but Uncle Ron always said how you didn't like each other in school and I don't want people to not like me!"

"How many times does your Aunt Hermione have to tell you that you should never listen to anything Ron says?" Harry asked.

She smiled a little bit.

"If it's bothering you that much, you don't have to go into Slytherin. You can ask the sorting hat to place you somewhere else, that's what it did for me but-" he put his arm around her, "Lydia Lily Potter-Malfoy, you were named after two of the bravest women I know. One of whom were in Slytherin.

"If you end up in Slytherin, you will be following in the footsteps of another amazing Lydia who probably would have been quite annoyed if at least one of her nieces or nephews didn't end up in her house,"

Somewhere, someone blew a whistle and people started to get onto the train. Harry hugged his children goodbye and tried to tell them to behave, but he was quite sure that neither of them were listening.

"They'll be OK, you know," Draco said, "Lydia especially,"

"I know,"

"Harry, are you in the office today?" Ron asked, "because there's no way I'm going to get all these errands done on my own,"

"Is that code for you're emotional and need a drink?"

"Obviously,"

Harry watched as the scarlet engine pulled out of the train station. He smiled slightly as he envisioned his sister for a moment; he saw her stood on the platform with him. Her green eyes as bright as ever and her wand sticking out of her hair. He touched the scar on his forehead that had not prickled for nineteen years. All was well.

A/N: That's the end. Thank-you for reading. If you want to read a slightly different and much longer version, it's on A03 under the same name. Thank-you.


End file.
